


Orange Days

by Shaele



Category: K (Anime)
Genre: AU - Soulmates, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Cat Fluff, Cat!Yata, Fluff, Fushimi doesn't know how to care for a cat, M/M, S4!Kamamoto, S4!Kusanagi, S4!Yata, Some other characters make appearances or at least helped move the plot, Spin-Off, but they're not there for long so I won't put them in the char tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-18
Updated: 2016-04-01
Packaged: 2018-05-27 10:29:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 21,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6280978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shaele/pseuds/Shaele
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Warning: Spin-off of my other story, Written on Your Skin. Some (a lot, probably) of the first part of this story won't make much sense if you don't read it, but you might be able to survive without reading it.</p><p>Fushimi and Yata had <i>finally </i>found out that they were each other's soulmate. It was <i>supposed </i>to be the greatest birthday Yata would ever have. It was <i>supposed </i>to be the day that they would pick out a cat together.</p><p>But no, things don't always end well for the two of them, <i>especially </i>today.</p><p>And for the next day, Fushimi has to deal with quite a troublesome little furball.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. One Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm probably only going to keep this about three chapters long. I don't want Fushimi to have to have a cat for a soulmate for forever. ;n; (most doujinshis involving them 'changing' only last a day long, so three days is already a stretch haha)
> 
> To those wondering why I used Orion as Yata’s saber’s name: Japanese children call Orion the “tsuzumi boshi”, or “drum star”. Orion’s ‘sound’ is said to summon and gain the attention of protective deities. The drums are used in court music too. -w- It didn’t have a snazzy meaning like Pleiades (unite), but it still seemed to fit our precious little vanguard. In Greek myth though Orion was the one chasing [lustfully] after the Pleiades so you can take it two different ways I guess?
> 
> Accepting ideas for this fic + more prompts on my tumblr account (shaelemay)!

                “Alright, let’s go!” Yata cried out. They had arrived at the last known coordinates of the Strain, which they had received only minutes ago by Fushimi.

                “Careful. I just filed the civilians out of the area.” Fushimi said to the team through his microphone. His voice-o-gram bobbed up and down with each syllable. “The Strain was last seen eating some mackerel from the store in front of you guys.”

A collective “roger!” rang in his ears. The sound of Yata unsheathing _Orion_ made Fushimi hyperaware of the situation. Of all of them, Yata and Awashima had the best swordsmanship skills, but Yata lacked listening skills when he got excited.

                “There!” Awashima’s voice blared. “Go!” Three more swords were unsheathed, and Yata’s yelling resounded in the van. Fushimi could hear unnatural screeching and metal hitting metal as the Strain fought back with whatever it was holding.

                Fushimi sighed. He wasn’t completely aware of the situation, but Yata was always unconsciously commenting on a move someone made, so it was pretty clear to him that after about ten minutes they were still unsuccessful in weakening the Strain.

                “Misaki.” Fushimi said. “Stupid Misaki. Can’t even defeat a girl.” It was time to rile up the wild crow, if they had any chance of capturing the Strain.

                “Like I’ll ever lose!” Yata roared, and went in for another swing. “Ha! Let’s see you use that arm agai - ow!”               

                “Misaki.” Fushimi warned, exasperated. “Focus on the battle. Don’t get your ass kicked by the Strain.”

                “I know that, idiot!” came a faraway reply. Bang, bang, bang. More clashing of metal. The Strain seemed to be more than capable of wiping the three of them out if they tried to. But of course, Yata wouldn’t let the crazy cat lady have her way. Ten more minutes had passed, and Yata’s triumphant laugh indicated their victory. “Got ‘er!” he whooped. They were all out of breath from the long battle against the crazy Strain. It had taken them every ounce of self-restraint to not up and kill her. Fushimi had it easy, since he was put in civilian and tracking duty most of the time. His computer skills didn’t stop at just that, though. He was an infiltrator, a programmer, and a damn good navigator for the other four. A lot of Scepter 4’s current programs were directed by Fushimi himself. Nonetheless, he was proud of his team for not killing yet another Strain. It wasn’t easy to use sabers as weapons to capture someone without killing them, but Scepter 4 had perfected the art of ‘cut just enough, but not enough to kill’. Well, that and they usually had sedative darts stuffed in their pockets. Though they usually didn’t do much due to a Strain’s amazing dexterity.

                There was ruffling and a coarse meowing sound. “Hmm? Not without a price.” The Strain said, though Fushimi could barely hear her. “C’mere a sec.” There was a scuffling sound, like someone was trying to shake off their handcuffs.

                “Ha! Like hell I’d listen to you!” Yata called out to it. Fushimi could tell that he took a step towards her, though. A shrill laugh sent shivers down Fushimi’s spine. A crackle. Everyone coughing. Then…

                “The Strain’s passed out.” Awashima reported in a shocked tone.

                “But Yata…” Yamamoto sounded worried.

                “He’s a …” Kusanagi let the sentence hang.

                Fushimi groaned. Of course this would happen after Fushimi told Yata not to get too involved with strays. “He’s a cat, isn’t he?”

                Silence.

                “That _idiot_.” Fushimi hissed. “Regroup. Time to report.” They were already on overtime. He hoped there was at least _some_ compensation for what had just transpired.

                “On our way!” they all replied. There was some shuffling and a tiny screech, then came a soft “there, there” from Kusanagi and all was silent again.

 

  **_____________________________**               

 

                At the moment they were in Munakata’s office, with Awashima giving the formal report. Fushimi hung off to the side with Yata, attempting to quiet the little rascal. He held Yata at an arm’s length away, trying not to get killed by his soulmate. Yata was hissing at Fushimi, trying to claw at him, which was why Fushimi was holding him so far away. He was more than glad to have wristbands on at this very moment, otherwise Yata probably would have clawed them to ribbons by now. He was tiny, barely any larger than a kitten, and he was orange with a white belly. There was even a stripe of white on his neck. His eyes were hazel and had that same fiery look that human-form Yata always had. The characters Fushimi wrote on human Yata’s cheeks just hours ago took the form of a white patch of fur on his cheek.

                For a fleeting moment Fushimi wondered if Yata’s fur would turn white if he wrote on his own skin.

                “Misaki, quiet!” Fushimi hissed, earning another snarl from Yata. He was mewling nonstop, trying to squirm out of his grip. They had been at this ever since they handed Yata to Fushimi in the van. At first Yata was just being really grumpy and kept shoving his head in-between the crook of Fushimi's arm and his chest, but after filing into Munakata’s office he went crazy, as if he didn’t want to be in there at all. So, for the ten minutes that Awashima gave the report, Fushimi had to wrestle a cat barely larger than his 16-ounce coffee tumbler.

                “… and so, that concludes the formal report. As to what happened to Yata Misaki…” Awashima looked to the two youngest members of Scepter 4.

                Munakata chuckled at the sight of Fushimi quarreling with a tiny kitten. “It’d be unfortunate to have to put Yata on lockdown until he turned back to his normal self.” Munakata said, his eyes full of mischief. “Especially since we don’t know how long Yata will be in this state.”

                “That _would_ be rather unfortunate.” Kusanagi chimed in. “Fushimi would probably hate you for locking up his soulmate away for an indefinite amount of time.”

                Fushimi turned to glare at the rest of the room’s occupants, who were either chuckling or about to start chuckling. “Like I’d care.” He mumbled, clicking his tongue.

                Yata didn’t seem to like that answer, though. He bit down hard on Fushimi’s thumb, causing Fushimi to yelp and drop Yata. He fell rather ungracefully, and after landing on his back he turned and darted to a corner of the room, behind a fern pot. Fushimi sighed and walked over to the fern. His right thumb was bleeding a little from the bite.

                Kamamoto was wheezing from laughter. “Fushimi… got… rejected!” he managed to squeeze out, causing the others to chuckle. Fushimi was getting mad all over again, but he didn’t have the energy to deal with everyone. Sometimes he wondered if they were _really_ older than him.

                “Misaki,” Fushimi cooed from behind the fern. “Come out…”

                There was silence. Fushimi looked over the fern to find Yata curled up tightly into a ball. His ears seemed to be drooping and his body was shaking slightly. Fushimi felt a pang in his chest. He wanted to each out to Yata, but he knew Yata would react badly to that.

                “Misaki…” Fushimi tried again. Yata tucked his head further into his body. “Come on, they’re not going to lock you up. You know that.”

                Yata still wouldn’t budge.

                “Looks like you hurt him, Fushimi.” Munakata remarked. Fushimi shot him a look, as if to say _I can see that, Captain Obvious_. “Would you like to care for Yata while he’s a cat?”

                Fushimi noticed Yata’s figure freeze from the corner of his eye. “I will” was all Fushimi said before turning back to Yata. He didn’t know how to deal with this situation. Fushimi was in no way an expert on animals, but he assumed that they usually get frightened by large gestures. He started quietly tapping the floor around Yata in an attempt to elicit any sort of response from him. “I’m going to touch you.” Fushimi said softly. When he touched Yata’s back with two fingers, he started to tremble again. Fushimi slid his fingers down and started to pet him in an attempt to calm him down.

                Yata’s trembling slowly ceased, and Fushimi swore Yata was vibrating.

                _Oh wait, he’s purring._

                Fushimi brought out his other hand and coaxed Yata onto his hands. When Yata finally relented, Fushimi bright him up to his chest. Something in his chest fluttered, but it turned into a heavy pain when he realized that Yata had been crying. He turned his body away from the rest of the people in the room, making sure Yata was obscured by him.

                “Misaki?” Fushimi murmured, bringing his thumbs up to wipe away some of the tears. “I’m sorry, Misaki…” He let his wounded thumb rest on Yata’s tiny cheek, and his stomach had that weird fluttery feeling yet again when Yata ever-so-slightly leaned onto it and started licking Fushimi's wound.

                Fushimi couldn’t stop the smile that graced his face.  Nobody in the room saw the smile, but they all smiled at the sight of their two youngest comrades being affectionate towards one another. Yata was the most bond-oriented out of anyone in Scepter 4, and it really showed - even in his cat form. Munakata, satisfied with the display of affection, clapped his hands - a motion he used to end a meeting.

                “Let’s retire for today.” He said. “Expect some compensation on the next payroll, and Fushimi, please take the time off to care for Yata. We won’t know when he turns back to normal, and it’s a good time to observe.”

                “What about the Special Ops team?” Fushimi asked. “Without me and Misaki, that’s barely more than half of the team.”

                “We can arrange for a few replacements.” Munakata assured him. “We won’t leave the Special Ops team powerless while you two are out.” Munakata gave a reassuring smile and waved everyone off. “You’re all dismissed for the day, but stay behind for a minute, Fushimi.”

                The rest of the team filed out, and Fushimi still hadn’t budged from the side of the fern. Yata was trying to tuck his head under Saru’s thumb.

                “Which if the two of you have more things in the dorms?”

                “Probably me.” Fushimi said, not daring to look away from Yata. The white patch on Yata’s cheek was slightly faded now compared to when he first saw it. “Misaki’s things are a mess, but it’s hardly two boxes’ worth of things.” At the least, it was that way during the week that Yata fell ill and wouldn’t let anyone but Fushimi in.

                “Then I take it you know what I’m about to ask you to do.”

                Fushimi clicked his tongue. “But of course, _Captain_.”

                Munakata chuckled. “But don’t do it unless Yata’s okay with it.”

                Something told Fushimi that Yata wouldn’t want to be left alone anytime soon. “Roger.”

                “You may go.”

                “Thank you, Sir.”

                Fushimi shifted Yata onto the hand he was tucking himself into, and held him against his chest as he pulled the door open and left the room. The dorms were a ten minute walk from this part of the building, and Fushimi was faced with another dilemma.

                _What does Misaki need to eat?_

                He looked at the tiny cat that had tucked himself into the spot between his arm and chest.

                “Misaki, do you want cat food?”

                Yata sneezed and mewled.

                “Is that a no?”

                Yata gave a muffled ’mrow’ and snuggled against Fushimi again.

                “I take it you’ll be okay with meat or something?”

                Yata didn’t move, but Fushimi felt that Yata was satisfied with his decision. It was a good thing he had leftover chicken from last night.

                Somewhere during Fushimi’s trip back to his dorm, Yata had fallen asleep. Fushimi’s arm was terribly sore, and as much as he wanted to just drop the extra pound or two of weight, he knew it wouldn’t end well between the two of them. Fushimi made it to his dorm and, after having safely set Yata onto a couch pillow, started reheating his leftover food from yesterday. The clock was nearing 11pm, much too late to have just gotten off of work. He was glad that he wasn’t going to be the one writing reports this time around, and won’t be the one doing so until the furball on his couch was back to being five-foot-four and even more annoying than ever.

                Yata hadn’t woken up yet when the food was prepared, so Fushimi stripped a piece of chicken into tiny scraps and left it in a small plate for him. Dinner went by in silence, with Fushimi deep in thought, wondering just _how_ is he going to take care of the cat he was tasked with caring for.

                He knew Yata enough to know that he was the playful type, which was terrible for Fushimi, but he also knew that Yata had a shy and reserved part of him too, which Fushimi wished Yata would stay in for the rest of the time he was a cat. He’d rather deal with a sentimental cat than a cat that didn’t want to do nothing all day.

                Fushimi purposely cleaned his dishes noisily to wake Yata up. The last thing Yata ate was that cake, which was almost eleven hours ago, and Fushimi did _not_ want to wake up in the middle of the night to feed him. He heard Yata shift from the pillow, followed by a soft thud from something landing on the floor.

                “Be careful, idiot.” Fushimi called out to Yata, clicking his tongue. A soft mew was heard, and when Fushimi turned to check on Yata he was already eyeing the small plate of shredded chicken.

                Fushimi set the plate down and let Yata eat, suddenly aware of one more issue.

                _How do I bathe a cat?_

                He contemplated getting a glass of warm water and dumping it on Yata to get a reaction, but he’d probably wake up with scratches all across his face if he did so. He figured he had a few days to figure it out, but for now he prepared a warm washcloth and waited for Yata to finish eating before wiping him down to the best of his abilities.

                Yata was purring again, which made Fushimi’s lips twitch. _Who knew he was this easy to please?_

                After Fushimi took a quick shower and changed into pajamas, he took Yata to the bathroom.

                “Please tell me you can figure out how to use the bathroom when you’re barely eight inches long.” Well, that wasn’t including his tail.

                Yata jumped up onto the toilet and tried pushing the toilet handle down. After a few tries he was able to do so successfully, and Fushimi let out a breath he didn’t realize he had been holding in.

                “I would’ve given up on you if you couldn’t at least to that on your own.” Fushimi muttered, earning an angry look from Yata. Well, as close to one as a cat could ever get. Which, might Fushimi say, was fairly close.

                He picked Yata up gently once he had hopped back down onto the floor. “Time for bed.” He said, walking out of the bathroom and tossing Yata onto the bed before sliding under the covers. Being tossed so carelessly earned an irritated yowl from Yata, but Fushimi ignored it, knowing he wasn’t going to get hurt from landing on a fluffy blanket. “Sleep wherever you want. Do you need a pillow?”

                He felt Yata move around on the bed, and when Fushimi turned towards the wall he saw Yata curled up in the corner where two sides of the wall met. He was facing away from Fushimi, and his ears were downcast. Fushimi at least knew _some_ ‘cat language’ from having to watch cat videos at work, and he knew almost immediately that Yata was sad again.

                Fushimi frowned. _Why didn’t Misaki get settled over here with me?_

                “C’mere,” Fushimi murmured, putting an arm around Yata and gently pulling him closer. “You’re going to freeze.”

                Yata watched Fushimi closely, before jumping out of Fushimi’s hold and putting himself between Fushimi’s chest and the crook of the arm that was tucked under him. Fushimi brought up his other arm and curled it around Yata almost protectively. Misaki situated himself so that his head was on Fushimi’s arm (the one tucked under Fushimi) and nuzzled his face into it almost affectionately.

                Fushimi couldn’t help but laugh. “Are you comfortable there, Misaki?”

                Yata mewed in what Fushimi made out to be a content tone, and before either of them knew it they had both fallen asleep.  
  


                But right before Fushimi let the drowsiness take over, he bent down to kiss the top of Yata’s head.

                “I hope you had a good birthday, idiot.”


	2. One Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Half the day is barely over and Fushimi's already dead tired.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so AO3 isn't letting me remove that end note at the bottom of the latest chapter so please just ignore that. ;n;
> 
> So uh. This is going to be a little longer than three chapters, apparently. I have way too many ideas in mind, and I was given so many good ideas too - so of course I'm gonna write about them! Special thank you to those that gave me ideas and helped inspire me to write out this chapter!
> 
> So my goal for this fic is to complete it before school starts. Which basically means you can expect a new chapter _every three days_ or possibly even _every two days_ , depending on what I'm going to do about the last chapter of this fic.
> 
> I'm also taking ideas for names for the two kittens, so don't be shy to comment/ask/message me with ideas! (shaelemay)

            Fushimi quickly learned that Yata was not much of a morning person.

            Err… morning cat.

            He woke up at 6am, which is already considered late for them, but when he tried to coax Yata, who had somehow gotten himself into Fushimi’s shirt, awake, he almost got scratched all over his chest. Fushimi clicked his tongue in annoyance; he couldn’t get up if the cat was in his shirt, and he wasn’t in a good position to just pull him out either.

            “Misaki,” Fushimi cooed, “It’s time to get up.”

            Yata wouldn’t budge. Fushimi sighed, and almost jerked his body back when he felt Yata’s wet nose touch his chest. _What the?_

            He reached behind himself and picked up his PDA from the nightstand to search for the best possible remedies for a cold nose.

            “… Oh” Was all he said after realizing it just meant Yata was healthy. “He better not get any of my things wet with his nose…”

            Yata must have woken up from all the movement Fushimi had made, because he started (well, he was trying to, at least) rolling around and stretching before poking his head out of Fushimi’s collar. He was bright-eyed and seemed to be smiling up at Fushimi. _Okay, so maybe I just need to wake him up the right way._ He meowed a good morning and Fushimi almost smiled.

            “Let’s get breakfast.” He said, placing his arm behind Yata and getting up, making sure Yata wasn’t going to fall.

            He got to the table and leaned over it, making sure Yata wouldn’t get hurt when he released is arm from under Yata. When he was safely placed onto the table, Fushimi then realized that he didn’t have anything for Yata to eat. He groaned and, after quickly eating a bowl of cereal and going through his morning routine (he let Yata go to the bathroom too, of course), he left with Yata to find something for him to eat. He kept a secure hold on Yata the whole way to the grocery store after realizing that Yata was getting stared at by a lot of the animals that they passed by. Normally cats weren’t allowed in grocery stores, so he visited one with a pet care center inside so that he would get Yata in with the excuse that he was going in for a checkup. Fushimi quickly went around the store to get whatever groceries he felt they needed and left the store within twenty minutes. He had bought some baked chicken so that Yata could eat right away.

            They stopped at a park to rest. Yata happily munched away at the drumstick that Fushimi held up for him while Fushimi watched the landscape around him. There weren’t any other cats around as far as he could tell, but he still noticed how Yata would sometimes glance at the children that were playing with their pet dog across the park.

            “Oh right, we were supposed to get a cat yesterday, huh…” Fushimi recalled. He wasn’t sure if he was up to the trouble of getting one at this point.

            Yata pulled off the last bit of chicken and Fushimi wiped his mouth with a napkin before cleaning his own fingers. Yata’s attention was completely on the children and the dog now, and Fushimi couldn’t help frowning a little more than usual.

            “Misaki, what’s wrong?” he asked, even though he knew he wasn’t going to get an answer. Yata looked up to Fushimi and mew’d before hopping onto Fushimi’s lap and laying down on his back. Fushimi poked a little at Yata’s stomach, and laughed a little when Yata began squirming and purring.

            “Are you lonely?” He asked Yata. Yata looked up at him and turned his head to look back at the children, and that was all Fushimi needed as an answer.

_I kind of already promised we’d get a cat, anyways._

            He picked up Yata and the groceries and walked to the pet store that wasn’t too far from there. Fushimi was inwardly cursing himself for spoiling Yata so much as to get him a companion while _he_ himself was a cat, but at the same time they had already planned on getting a cat, so why not?

            Fushimi held Yata a little closer when they arrived at the pet store. It was one of the bigger pet stores, so there were a _lot_ of animals out on display. He didn’t know if Yata was scared of meeting so many animals in one area, but better safe than sorry, so he tucked Yata into the pocket that was inside his coat, giving Yata enough room to poke his head out if he wanted to.

            The clerk directed them towards the area where the cats were kept. It was a large portion of the store, and the clerk had suggested that they adopt a kitten so that it could adapt a little easier to Yata (no, the clerk didn’t know that Yata was actually a human).

            There was a pen full of loitering kittens, so after picking out a red collar for Yata to wear Fushimi dropped Yata in there (the clerk also said this was a good idea, so that Yata could pick out his new companion a little easier).

            Fushimi left Yata there while he went to look for cat supplies.

_So much stuff to bring home. You better be thankful, Misaki…_

 

  **_____________________________**

 

            Yata was scared.

            Really, really scared.

            He wasn’t supposed to be a cat, but here he was, stuck as a cat, and a tiny one at that.

            What was _weird_ , though, was how he kinda just _understood_ cat-talk.

            Yata was dead in the middle of a really large pen full of small kittens. A lot of them ignored him, but an orange cat that look strangely like him bounced up to him and stared at him excitedly. A black cat lingered behind, giving Yata an almost bored look.

_Ha, he looks so much like Saruhiko._

            “Hey hey, wanna play?” The orange cat said to him excitedly. “We don’t see a lot of other cats around, and everyone else doesn’t like to play with me and my best friend. Wanna play tag?”

            Yata retracted a bit, unsure of how to approach this kind of situation. The orange cat looked at him quizzically.

            “You’re scaring him.” The black cat said to the orange cat.

            The orange cat glanced at the black cat, then turned back to Yata and got even _closer_ to the poor guy.

            By the time their inches were mere millimeters from one another, Yata was about ready to claw at him and run away.

            “Hey, why do you smell different?” the orange cat asked all of a sudden. The black cat glared at the orange one from behind.

            “Be polite.”

            “Sorry!” the orange cat laughed and leaned back. “But you smell like a human.”

            “I _am_ a human.” Yata muttered, curling into a ball again.

            “Whoa! Really? So who’s that guy that left you here?” The orange cat was surprisingly gullible, but Yata would rather not have to argue about him being a human to a _cat_.

            “He’s my…” Yata didn’t know how to explain it. “Soulmate, I guess you can say.”

            “Soul… mate?” The orange cat cocked his head to the side.

            “It’s like your mate for life.” Yata said, remembering the documentary about animal relationships he had running in the background while he made his dinner one night long, long ago. “I can never have any other mate other than him.”

            “Whoa! But you’re both males, right?”

            “It doesn’t matter to humans what the other one’s gender is.”

            “That’s cool!” The orange cat said. He sat down next to Yata, and rested his head on his front paws. Yata somehow felt a lot safer around them, and even the black cat went to sit with them, except his head was on the orange cat’s back.

            Yata still didn’t uncurl himself, though. “Why are you so quick to believe me?”

            “Well, why not?” The orange cat said, looking at Yata quizzically. “You and the other human don’t feel threatening.”

            “The other human looks a little threatening though.” The black one said.

            “Well, yeah…” The orange one mumbled.

            Yata recalled the look on Fushimi’s face when he had tried to sleep in the corner last night. Fushimi’s face had betrayed his usual ‘I don’t care about anything’ attitude he always wore at work, and instead of seeing _that_ side of Fushimi that night, he had seen a Fushimi that just wanted someone to be with him.

            Yata hoped it was a face that only _he_ will be able to ever see.

            “He’s not scary when you get to know him.” Yata said thoughtfully, without restraint. “He’s usually mean to people he doesn’t know but he’s a good person.”

            The orange cat laughed and asked, in the most innocent voice Yata has ever heard, “Have you two mated yet?”

            Yata sat up straight and stared at the orange cat in horror. “Oooh no. No no no no _no_.”

            The orange cat watched his reaction and mumbled a quiet sorry. Yata was on edge, but he knew that they didn't mean any harm from the topic. He was just surprised they even _knew_ about things like _that_ , considering how young they probably were. The orange cat waited for Yata to calm down and settle back into a curled position before speaking again in an apologetic tone. “I didn’t think that topic was scary for you…”

            Yata sighed. “It’s okay, I guess…” It wasn't necessarily a  _scary_ topic, but it was a topic he would rather  _not_ get himself involved with.

            “Hey hey, so can you adopt us, though?” The orange cat suddenly perked up. “I want to get adopted and have a _real_  family… oh, but he has to be with me or else I won’t be happy.” He looked to his friend that was snoozing on his back.

            “Do you guys have names?” Yata was curious, because neither of them said each other’s names.

            “Nope! The cats that have been here for a while say that the humans that take care of us here don’t give us a name until we’re here for a long time, too.”

            “Oh…”

            “But we get names once we’re adopted, too!”

            Yata smiled. He wondered what kind of names these two would like.

 

**_____________________________**

 

            Fushimi was at war with himself right now. He had already picked out some shampoo and a brush for the cat. He even got some random cat toys that weren’t the squeaky kind. He also got a small cat bed, too, just in case.

            As for right now…

            Yata wasn’t going to stay a cat forever. Hell, he’s not supposed to be a cat for longer than a day or two. But here Fushimi was, contemplating getting Yata a collar and a food bowl to accompany the other set he had to buy for the other cat.

            After standing in front of the collars for a good five minutes, he gave up and, forgetting Yata already had a collar on, grabbed a green and a purple collar, along with matching bowls. He also picked up a small bag of cat food to start off with.

            He had their things checked out and sitting in a corner of the store while he went to grab Yata and consult an employee about the new cat.

            Except he came back to Yata talking to _two_ cats, which was already raising a lot of flags in his head.

            "Misaki.” Fushimi said, patting him on the head. “Did you find your new friend?” Yata mewled and hopped in-between the two other kittens he was with. He glared at him. “No, Misaki. I can’t handle three of you.” Yata gave him a defiant look, though, and sat up straighter as if to challenge Fushimi.

            “No means no.” Fushimi said sternly. Yata pouted angrily (well, at last it seemed that way to Fushimi) and looked away with a _harrumph_.

            The black cat that was on one side made its way to the other cat and started snuggling him. The orange cat mewled in surprise before purring happily. Yata was looking at them with an amused expression while meowing at them.

_Oh, so Misaki can speak to them._

            Fushimi held his hand out to them and the two cats went up to him hesitantly. Yata, however, tried to hop out of the pen and onto Fushimi, but failed miserably. Fushimi held out his other hand and grabbed Yata, placing him on his shoulder.

            After seeing that, the other two cats pressed their cold noses onto Fushimi’s hand. He shuddered at the coldness, but didn’t pull away like he wanted to. He took a quick look around the pen and realized _why_ Yata had chosen them.

            The others looked terribly bored, and it was probably these two that approached Yata first. Fushimi turned his head to face Yata. “Do you _really_ want to be responsible for _two_ cats?”

            Yata mewled and nuzzled Fushimi’s cheek. Fushimi absolutely did _not_ want to have to bring these two home and take care of _three_ cats, but he could just throw the responsibility of the two cats onto Yata once he had turned back to normal.

            … once they figured out how to.

            The employee was standing patiently behind Fushimi, enjoying the interaction between them all. “Are you ready to adopt one?” He asked with a sincere smile on his face.

            Fushimi turned to look at the employee. “Two, it seems.”

            The clerk looked surprised, but kept smiling anyways. “Great! Let’s go get the papers filled out and you can go on your merry way.”

 _Merry way? What?_ Fushimi thought he was rather _too_ cheery, but as long as Yata was satisfied. He just hoped that their compensation would help pay for these two cats.

            When the papers were all filled out and signed, they went ‘on their merry way’, except Fushimi had to call for help because there was _just_ _too many things_ to bring back.

            He pulled out his PDA and called Kusanagi, the only one of the other three that he could tolerate for a while longer than the others. They were drowning in paperwork, it seemed, but Kusanagi went to help Fushimi anyways, and arrived at the pet store in about twenty minutes.

            When Kusanagi looked at all of the things that they needed to bring back to the dorm, he whistled long and loud. “You’re spoiling the kid.” He said. Yata was still perched on Fushimi’s shoulders, and purred when Kusanagi went to scratch at his ear. “The cat Strain seems to be conscious now, but she still won’t speak. We’ll let you know when anything useful comes up, though.” He added, knowing that Fushimi was about to ask about her.

            Fushimi nodded, his attention almost completely on Yata. The other two cats were on leashes and laying on top of the cat food. He had given the orange cat the purple collar and the black one the green collar.

            “Just bring the cats, if you will.” Fushimi said, picking up the grocery bags and cat food. He was having an incredibly hard time balancing everything, so Kusanagi took the grocery bags from him and they started walking slowly back to headquarters.

            “It’s not even noon and you’ve bought all this.” Kusanagi laughed. Fushimi shot him a glare.

            “I would have had to buy them anyways.” He muttered. “Yata was already expecting a pet cat since yesterday.”

            He laughed. “So you got two?”

            “ _He_ picked them, not me.”

            “Hmm” Kusanagi thought for a moment with a slight smile on his face. “It’s only been a day and you seem more inclined to talk to people properly.” Kusanagi remarked. Fushimi clicked his tongue in annoyance. “Anyways, how do you plan on housebreaking them?”

            “I’m going make Yata do that, of course.” He scowled. “He can at least talk to them about it.”

            “Oh? So he can communicate with animals, eh…”

            Speaking of housebreaking…

            Fushimi groaned. He forgot to buy a litterbox.

            “Stupid cats and their stupid needs.” He muttered darkly. “Wait.”

            He stepped to the side of the sidewalk and leaned the cat food against a tree before jogging back to the store for the litterbox. The same cheery employee greeted him and Yata, and in no time Fushimi had the litterbox in a large plastic bag and was running back to Kusanagi, much to Yata’s dismay. It wasn’t easy holding onto Fushimi, especially since he was trying his best not to rip his shirt to shreds.

            Yata yowled in protest as he bounced up and down Fushimi’s shoulders. He was hoping Fushimi would notice his cries and slow down, but of course he didn’t, so Yata fell off of his shoulder and onto the sidewalk.

            Landing on concrete hurt a lot, especially when it was nearly a six foot drop. Yata tried to scramble back onto his feet and catch up to Fushimi, but he was already long gone and Yata honestly had no idea where he was even at. He was not familiar with this part of the city, even moreso now that he was small enough to fit in a cereal bowl.

            He kept running in the direction that he had last seen Fushimi running in, and vaguely remembered that they had made two turns somewhere along the way. He didn’t remember which streets to turn into, so as he got even more lost in the crowded city it was becoming apparent that he had to find _some_ way to get back to Fushimi.

            But Yata wasn’t thinking about that right now. What _was_ on his mind, though, was the overwhelming feeling of loneliness and abandonment that had crept its way into his thoughts.

_No! He’s not going to abandon me. He’s a friend. He’s not like those people from elementary school._

            He turned into a skinny alleyway and hid there, away from any person that would recognize him that _wasn’t_ Fushimi, and willed him to appear out of nowhere.

_Please, please, please._

 

  **_____________________________**

 

            By the time Fushimi noticed the absence of weight on his shoulders, he had already arrived at where he left Kusanagi.

            “Fushimi…” Kusanagi said, concerned. “Where’s Yata?”

            It suddenly dawned on him why something had felt off sometime during his run back. His eyes widened in shock. Fushimi dropped the litterbox next to the cat food and went into a panic. _Where did he go? Did he fall off? Is that why he was yelling so much?_

            He didn’t know when or where exactly he had fallen off. He just knew that he still had Yata when they left the pet store.

            “That’s at least eight blocks to search in!” he yelled out in a panic. Kusanagi had already picked up his PDA and called for backup.

            “We need some units to search within a mile radius of my current position.” He said rather coolly. “Yata Misaki’s missing. Orange haired cat with white belly. Red collar. Approximately eight inches body length, five inches in height. Measurements have not been taken officially.”

            “Wait.” Fushimi said. He pulled out the pen he had in his pocket, which he always carried when he didn’t have knives on him, and asked Kusanagi to draw a pattern on his back. They got a lot of weird looks from wandering passersby, but Fushimi could care less about his pale back being exposed to the public.

            He had to find his soulmate.

            “Spiral pattern on back.” Kusanagi added to his report.

            “White.”

            “White pattern on the back.” Kusanagi repeated.

            Kusanagi got the okay from the person from the other line and within ten minutes a group of Scepter 4 clansmen, who were probably just random people on standby, had appeared to help in one of Scepter 4’s smaller vans. Their own team was among them as well.

            “You got the report, right?” Kusanagi asked them. _Technically_ the special ops team was above most of the clansmen in rank, so they didn’t have to deal with formalities with most. Awashima and Kamamoto stepped away from the other clansmen and went to stand with Kusanagi.

            “Yes!” They all said in unison.

            “Disperse.”

            “And don’t speak too loudly.” Fushimi added.

            “Yes!”

            And they were off.

            “You know,” Kusanagi said, leaning against the tree. “This is the most I’ve ever heard you speak in a day.”

            “Shut up.” Fushimi growled. He was pacing back and forth, itching to go look for the idiot that had gotten himself lost.

            _No, no. It’s my fault for not looking after him._

“You can go look for him, you know.” Kusanagi said, shrugging. He stuck a cigarette in his mouth and pulled out a lighter. “We’ll be more than happy to watch your things and the kittens.” Awashima grunted, and Kamamoto yawned loudly, a clear indication that they had spent quite a long time writing reports.

 _Now you know how_ I _feel._

            Fushimi nodded and made a dash for the pet store. He just needed to retrace his steps, right? He walked slowly, looking in every alleyway he could. Yata seemed to like to huddle in a corner when he was afraid, so Fushimi paid extra attention to areas that had hidden corners in them.

            A lot of reports came in over Kusanagi’s microphone about cats that seemed to look like Yata, but none of them had the spiral design he had written on Fushimi just moments ago. Kusanagi was worried for the two, but if it was Fushimi, then he knew that the job would be done well. It didn’t look like it most of the time, but Fushimi was probably the hardest worker out of their special ops group, and everyone in Scepter 4 trusted him despite his tendency to throw knives at people that got on his nerves.

            Fushimi had gone through every alleyway they had passed by earlier, and after having met back up with Kusanagi he realized that Yata probably got himself lost trying to find the turns they took. He searched two blocks around the two turns that he took, and was about to turn back when he saw an orange cat dart out of a small alleyway a block over.

            The cat was being harassed by another, much larger, cat.

            Fushimi had no idea if it was Yata or not, but the idea that it _could_ be Yata convinced him that it was worth going to look at.

            The larger cat, grey in fur color, had been pawing the smaller orange one, tossing it from side to side. Fushimi had sprinted to the orange cat when the walk signal turned green, and it didn’t take long before he noticed the patch of white on the smaller cats’ back.

            “Misaki!” Fushimi yelled out, hoping it was enough to scare the other cat. There were scratches all over the smaller cat’s legs from getting tossed around, and when Fushimi had realized that it really _was_ Yata getting bullied by the cat, he uncapped the pen he had used not too long ago and flicked it at the grey cat, its tip not quite piercing skin but pushing hard enough to elicit a pained yowl from the large cat. It ran back into the alley, and Fushimi scooped up Yata the moment he was in range.

            Pen forgotten, Fushimi immediately picked up his PDA and had Kusanagi call off the search. Yata lay limp in Fushimi’s hold and made a faint mewing sound as he looked up at Fushimi. Fushimi was probably about to cry right now, but he wasn’t sure if it was tears of sorrow or tears of rage. Yata wasn’t hurt badly, but the sight of the scratches and the pained look on Yata’s face was almost enough to send him over-the-edge.

            Fushimi ran back to Kusanagi.

            “Good work.” Awashima said. Kamamoto grunted. The helpers had made their way back before Fushimi arrived, and they left the main special ops team behind. Fushimi forgot to ask about their temporary replacements.

            “Let’s go.” Fushimi said, careful to hide Yata’s injured body from the rest of them. He wanted private time with Yata, but they most likely wouldn’t leave them alone if they figured out that Yata was _attacked_.

            Fushimi allowed the rest of their team to carry his groceries and supplies to his dorm, refusing to let any of them near Yata. When they arrived at Fushimi’s dorm, however, Awashima demanded that they see Yata.

            Being their leader, Fushimi was forced to comply.

            He set Yata down on a couch pillow. Yata wasn’t as limp as he was before, and his scratches had already scabbed over for the most part, but he still had some blood caked onto his legs and he just looked plain terrified of everything.

            When Fushimi set Yata down to let the others see what had happened, Yata immediately mewled in protest when Fushimi’s hand was no longer in reach. Fushimi could tell that Yata needed Fushimi for comfort, so he reached out a finger and gingerly patted Yata’s head. He immediately nuzzled Fushimi’s palm, which tickled a lot, but Fushimi wouldn’t let that show.

            Awashima frowned at Yata’s injuries. The two new additions to their ‘family’ were playing with Kusanagi, who had already heard of the incident from Fushimi during their call earlier. Kamamoto was napping on the couch, either not caring about what had just happened or was just too tired from all the mental work he had to do this morning to do anything.

            They had arrived at Fushimi’s dorm around lunchtime, and Fushimi let the rest of the team eat the remainder of the baked chicken. They all ate in silence while Fushimi tended to Yata’s wounds. He wiped Yata clean with warm water before heading into the bathroom to fill up the sink with a little bit of warm water in preparation for a bath.

            When the sink was a few inches full he put Yata in there, who mewled in protest at first but eventually relaxed in the small pool of water. He didn’t dare try to sit down in the pool, but he was still a little shaky from earlier so Fushimi had set his hand under him in case Yata wanted to lay down on it.

            “You okay?” Fushimi asked, using his other hand to pump some shampoo onto his palm. Yata didn’t make a sound, but he didn’t look like he was about to lash out and try to get away from the water.

            Fushimi slowly shampooed Yata, being extra careful around his face. When Fushimi had finished Yata’s legs he sat on Fushimi’s hand and waited until Fushimi was finished shampooing him before looking up to Fushimi and mewing.

            Fushimi didn’t know what kind of signal Yata was trying to send to him, but the content air let him know that Yata wasn’t going to claw at him any moment now. He turned on the faucet and lifted Yata up a tiny bit to get access to the drain. When the water was drained he started splashing the water onto Yata to get the shampoo off, and was surprised to feel Yata purring when he started massaging the soap off of Yata.

 

**_____________________________**

 

            The rest of the special ops members were lounging around in Fushimi’s living room as if they had no paperwork to fill out right that second. Kamamoto was snoring loudly on the couch while Kusanagi and Awashima tended to the two cats they had just brought home. Kusanagi had given them some of the cat food while Fushimi was giving Yata a bath. Awashima set up the litterbox in the living room and now they were trying to teach them how to use it properly, but even _they_ didn’t have so much as a clue as to _how_ housebreaking really works.

            “This is going to be a nice adventure for the four of them.” Kusanagi remarked. Awashima laughed.

            “You’re probably right on that one.”

            The two kittens mewled and sat in the litterbox obediently.

            “I wonder what your names will be.” Awashima murmured, scratching behind the black kitten’s ears. He purred in delight while the orange one went to Kusanagi to try to get the same treatment as his best friend.

            “Don’t try to give Yata and Fushimi a hard time, okay?” Kusanagi said to the orange cat while scratching the underside of his chin. The orange cat purred, his tail swaying side to side as he was being scratched.

            Just then Fushimi emerged from the bathroom while holding a towel in his hands. An orange head popped out and a very wet Yata mewled in greeting. Awashima scolded Fushimi, saying that he needed to dry Yata off properly before he really caught a cold, and Fushimi was two steps away from using a blow-dryer on Yata before she took him from Fushimi and dried off Yata herself.

            “You should learn to take a little more care of them.” Awashima said in-between making cooing sounds at Yata. “Don’t make Yata take care of them all by himself.”

            “ _He’s_ the one that wanted a cat.” He muttered scowling.

            “ _You_ complied though.”

            Fushimi clicked his tongue. He had nothing else to say so he just watched as Awashima and Kusanagi took care of the three cats, who were now playing with each other.

            “Say,” Kusanagi said, holding a toy up for Yata and the other orange cat, “do you have a name for the two yet?”

            “I’m waiting for Yata to name them.”

            Kusanagi laughed. “That sounds something you’d probably do.”

            Fushimi gave him a look but stayed quiet. Instead, he went over to look at the pet store receipt, and groaned when he realized he didn’t buy Yata’s collar.

            “I just stole a collar.” Fushimi said, not really expecting a response.

            “Just let boss know about it.” Awashima said, referring to Munakata. “He’ll have no problem compensating the pet store for _Yata_ ’s collar.”

            “He’d probably get a kick out of that.” Kamamoto said sleepily, raising his head from the couch. “I’ll tell him for ‘ya, though. If you want.”

            “Thanks.” Fushimi said, completely forgetting that he was there. “Shouldn’t you guys get back to your paperwork?”

            “Probably.” Awashima sighed. “Let’s go?”

            The other three got up, and they all said their goodbyes to Yata and the two kittens before turning to Fushimi and scolding him for spoiling his soulmate a little too much.

            Fushimi just scowled the entire time and tried not to slam the door when they left.


	3. One Moment

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh geez, since I made the last chapter 5k words long, I need this to be as long or even longer or I won’t be satisfied.
> 
> Editor's Note: 5k isn't even that long though aha.

                “See, you just sit in it…” Yata had been drilling the litterbox routine into the two kittens’ minds since after Fushimi had fed Yata the last of the baked chicken. Yata learned that the kittens were actually pretty quick learners, though he wasn’t sure if they actually _remembered_ anything after a while.

                “There you go!” Yata mewed in delight after watching the two kittens do their business in the litterbox. Fushimi, who had been watching them out of the corner of his eyes, scowled.

                _Why can’t they learn to use the toilet like Misaki?_

He went to clean up their mess anyways, afraid of what the dorm would smell like if he had decided to leave it for Yata to do when he became human again. Yata took this opportunity to show the dorm to the kittens.

                “So, here’s the bathroom,” Yata said, not really sure if they knew what a bathroom was. “This is where humans poop and clean and stuff.”

                “Oooh! The orange kitten squealed. “So do _you_ go there instead of the litterbox?”

                “Of course.” Yata muttered, turning away. He lead the way to Fushimi’s room. “Here’s Saruhiko’s room. He doesn’t like it when people or cats come in here so you have to stay away.”

                “ _Why?_ ” the orange cat whined.

                “I dunno.” Yata shrugged. “He just doesn’t like it when people go in there. I took care of him when he was sick, and he almost killed me when I tried to go in there the first time.” He recalled Fushimi bringing Yata into his room last night, and wondered if he was going to allow Yata in again that night.

                _Wait, would he let me in when I was a human again?_

                He shook the thought away and lead the kittens back to the living room. “There’s not much else to see but this area is called the living room. It’s where humans and cats spend the day when they’re not busy. Then there’s the kitchen over there,” he gestured to the area behind the couch, “where the food is prepared. Try to not go in there too much because humans might step on you while they’re making food.”

                Both of the kittens nodded. Fushimi had settled onto the couch by then, and was lazily clicking buttons on the TV remote, switching channels every few seconds. He finally settled on the news channel, and left it there as background noise as he watched the three cats run around in circles. He noticed that the orange one and Yata would talk all the time, but the other kitten would always just watch while staying by the orange cat’s side.

                _I wonder why._

                Yata had found the plastic bag with the cat toys, and used his mouth to drag out the teaser toy, which resembled a cattail plant, out and in front of Fushimi. Fushimi clicked his tongue in annoyance, but nonetheless picked up the toy and waved it in front of the three kittens. Yata sat and watched the two play with Fushimi, too tired to jump around.

                “Misaki, why don’t you come play with us?” The orange kitten asked Yata whilst trying to grab the cat tail. It was much too high for the orange cat to reach.

                “I’m tired.”

                “Oh, okay…” The orange cat stopped jumping and went up to Yata. The kitten batted Yata’s head with a paw. “Wanna play another game?”

                “No, I’m okay.”

                “Don’t bother Misaki, please.” The black kitten said sternly, fully aware of Yata’s wounds. The other kitten didn’t have a clue as to what had happened earlier, and simply thought that the bandages on Yata’s legs were supposed to be poorly made socks.

                Fushimi noticed that the kittens were done with the toy and set the cattail teaser down on the floor. The orange kitten, having lost interest in trying to coax Yata into playing with them, proceeded to pounce on the tip of the toy. “Gotcha!” the kitten mewled, though only Yata and the black kitten understood. The orange kitten started dragging the toy around, and with the help of the black kitten they managed to bring it up to their small bed next to the TV. Yata was still seated by the couch, his ears perked up and his tail twitching just a little at the sight.

                _Oh geez, I kind of feel like a dad or something._ Yata thought.

                Fushimi picked Yata up and, after laying on the couch, settled Yata on his chest. Yata curled up and let out a satisfied sigh, appreciating Fushimi’s tiny show of affection. The two kittens were already settled in the bed and curled against each other, ready to take an afternoon nap.

                “A nap seems nice right now.” Fushimi murmured, watching the two kittens crawl over each other in an attempt to get comfortable. Yata mewed, and turned his head to look Fushimi in the face. “What’s wrong, Misaki?”

                Yata mewed again and stood to position himself between the couch and the crook of Fushimi’s neck. It tickled Fushimi a little, but he didn’t move in case he ended up crushing Yata.

                He used his other arm to reach over and scratch the spot under Yata’s chin, making him purr in delight. Yata kept purring even when Fushimi had stopped scratching it, and soon he had fallen asleep.

                After Yata had fallen asleep, Fushimi reached for his PDA on the coffee table. It had only been a couple hours since he was left alone with the three cats, but it felt like a week’s worth of energy had been used up. He read the two messages that were sent to him.

_From: Awashima_

_Please provide a summary of earlier’s events. It will be needed for tomorrow’s report._

Fushimi clicked his tongue. _That can wait until tomorrow, then._ He went to the next message.

_From: Kusanagi_

_The Strain has been interrogated. Apparently the only way to revert the transformation is to tell Yata something from your heart._

Fushimi was puzzled. Heart?

He dropped the PDA onto the floor and picked the remote back up again. After another quick run through the channels he clicked the power button and lay there in silence.

 _Tell Misaki something? Like what? That I love him?_ Fushimi scoffed at his last thought. He wasn’t even sure of his _own_ feelings. Yata was supposedly nothing but a person he had to be stuck with for life. But why did he start feeling all these positive emotions when Yata was around him? It puzzled Fushimi, and irritated him to no end.

He tilted his head and let Yata tickle his chin with his fur.

“Maybe.” He murmured unconsciously before drifting off to sleep.

 

  **_____________________________**

 

Yata pounced on Fushimi’s face, and pushed his body under Fushimi’s glasses in order to force them off. Once they were off, he bit down on the bridge and hopped down from the couch. He hid it under the couch and watched as Fushimi rubbed his eyes sleepily before realizing that his glasses were missing. Fushimi was disoriented after being forced awake, so he didn’t even notice Yata hiding the glasses right under the couch.

“Misaki!” Fushimi growled. “What the hell was that for?”

Yata mewed innocently, as if he was just minding his own business from the foot of the couch. Fushimi glared at the orange blur that was Yata. “Misaki, what’s wrong with you?”

Yata seriously just wanted to play with Fushimi. The two kittens were still sleeping, which Yata found out was completely normal since they were still babies (the black kitten was very smart despite having a ditz for a best friend). Fushimi continued to glare at Yata while sitting up. Yata bounded to Fushimi’s feet and sat himself on one of them while rubbing up against him, purring ever so slightly.

“Misaki…” Fushimi warned, but there was no hint of malice whatsoever. He didn’t know how to handle this ball of fur. When Yata was human, all he would need to do was let Yata rattle off about some mundane issue and he’d say a few unhelpful lines before Yata would storm off, then come back a few minutes later with something else to say. As a cat, however, Fushimi couldn’t figure out _what_ Yata wanted. He could hardly distinguish the sounds that Yata made, but figured that a happy Yata meant a purring Yata, except he didn’t know _how_ to make him do that aside from scratching him in certain places.

Fushimi picked up Yata, who mewed at him with big, round eyes, and sighed. “Did you want to play?”

Yata mewed, as if saying yes. Fushimi clicked his tongue in annoyance, and stood up, walking to the kitchen with blurry eyes. He set Yata onto the table and left him there to find his glasses. Yata was starting to feel bad, but he let Fushimi attempt to search for the glasses anyways, enjoying the sight of Fushimi crawling around. While he dug around in the more _obvious_ hiding spots, it never occurred to Fushimi that Yata wouldn’t even be able to drag his glasses very far in the little time that he had.

Exasperated, Fushimi let out a loud “Misaki!” before turning to glare at Yata. Yata’s ears bent forward in a frightened position, but he made no move to try to lead Fushimi to his glasses. Instead, he waited until Fushimi turned away before hopping onto the chair and eventually the floor, making a dash to the corner near the door where his own Scepter 4 belongings were kept. A spare set of pajamas was also among the two uniforms and his saber, in case he turned back in the middle of the night.

Yata let out a loud yowl before tucking himself into the pajamas to hide. Fushimi turned to look at Yata, except Yata wasn’t anywhere to be found.

“ _Misaki!_ ” Fushimi nearly yelled, forgetting about the two kittens sleeping a few steps away from him. They didn’t budge, much to Fushimi’s convenience.

Yata tried kept still, knowing just how observant Fushimi was even _without_ his glasses. It was difficult to keep in his snickers, however, and it wasn’t long before he was pulled by the scruff of his neck and suddenly face-to-face with Fushimi.

Fushimi was squinting at Yata, which made Yata shake even more with laughter. It took Fushimi all of his self-control to _not_   toss Yata somewhere or shake him senseless. He was irritated, but he also tried to understand that Yata just wanted to play.

“Let’s make a compromise.” Fushimi said to Yata, nice and slow. His face was mere inches away from Yata’s, and the death glare that was directed at him was intense enough to traumatize him. “You give me my glasses back, and I _won’t_ make you eat cat food for dinner.”

                Yata stared at him, horrified by the thought of having to eat cat food.

                “That’s a yes, I take it? Then give me back my glasses, _please_.” Yata swore that Fushimi’s glares could kill people someday. When Fushimi set Yata down he made a dash for the couch, pulling out the glasses hidden underneath. Fushimi clicked his tongue. _Of course it’s near the couch._

                Yata dragged it across the kitchen floor and to Fushimi, attempting a meow before dropping the glasses carefully near his feet. Fushimi sighed, picking up and putting the glasses on. When he was finally able to see a bit more clearly, he took a long, hard look at Yata before turning to the couch. He sighed and when he bent down to pick Yata up, he noticed his PDA emitting a blinking green light from the coffee table. He picked up the PDA instead and opened the message.

                He had received a text from Kusanagi.

_From: Kusanagi_

_I’ll bring dinner over later so we can discuss how to turn Yata back._

Fushimi sent a lazy ‘okay’ before tossing the PDA somewhere. He vaguely wondered if Yata had received anything on _his_ PDA, but didn’t bother picking it up from the small pile of Yata’s belongings by the door. He sat down on the couch; it was only four in the afternoon, and Kusanagi would most likely arrive in two hours. He clicked the TV on and started flipping through the channel again. After about thirty channels he finally stopped at a random music channel and glanced around the room, vaguely aware that his mind was searching for Yata. When he saw Yata at the foot of the couch, Yata meowed and trotted over to Fushimi, settling on his foot once again. He looked up to Fushimi, who had leaned over to watch Yata, and meowed.

                “You’re so needy.” Fushimi murmured before picking up Yata by the scruff of his neck and setting Yata onto his shoulder. Yata liked being on his shoulder for some reason, and Fushimi had already taken note of that some time ago. Yata purred and nuzzled Fushimi’s neck, burying his face in his hair. Fushimi tried not to laugh, but after a while he couldn’t help but chuckle at how affectionate Yata was being.

                “Are you trying to say sorry?” He murmured, taking a hand and petting Yata’s back.

                Fushimi let Yata gnaw at his hair while he tried to start working on his report for Awashima. It didn’t take very long to finish the report, but by the time he had read, reread, and proofread the report Yata had stopped messing around and was watching Fushimi type on the laptop he had magically pulled out from the bottom of the coffee table.

                He saved the document in two different places before snapping the lid shut. It had taken him the whole two hours to write the report, and in no time Kusanagi was already at the door with a bag full of fast food that he picked up for the three of them.

                “Heyo!” Kusanagi said with a smile when Fushimi opened the door. Fushimi made no move to return the greeting, but let Kusanagi in anyways. Yata mewed a greeting at Kusanagi, and was rewarded with a scratch behind the ear. Kusanagi took his boots off and set the bag of food on the table. Fushimi set Yata down on the table and went to grab plates and cups from the cupboards.

                “How are you today, Yata?” Kusanagi asked the small orange cat that made its way to him. Yata mewed. “Your scratches don’t hurt, right?” Yata mewed a little louder, trying to sound tougher. Kusanagi laughed. “That’s our vanguard for you.”

                Fushimi finished setting up the plates, cups, and utensils, leaving Yata a small plate to eat from.

                _No way are you going to use their bowls._ He thought, sneaking a glance at the two mounds of fur in the other side of the room.

                Kusanagi began opening up the takeout boxes, and laughed as Fushimi grimaced at the box of vegetables. Yata eyed the vegetables hungrily.

                “No no, Yata, you can’t have vegetables just yet.” Kusanagi said to him. “Not until Fushimi here turns you back.”

                Yata looked at him, puzzled, but Kusanagi didn’t push the subject. Instead, he took his chopsticks and dumped a large amount of the steamed vegetable on his plate. Fushimi glared daggers at Kusanagi.

                “I’m not going to eat these.”

                “Oh, yes you will.” Kusanagi said, shrugging.

                “ _No._ ”

                Kusanagi laughed. “Whatever you say, Fushimi.” He gave Yata some beef from the beef-broccoli box and proceeded to fill up his own plate. They ate in silence for a while, until Fushimi broke it.

                “Why aren’t you with Awashima?” He asked Kusanagi.

He shrugged. “She has to finish up some more reports. She saw the one you saved into the system. It’s nice.”

                Fushimi clicked his tongue. “Isn’t it always?”

                “Yeah, it is.”

Yata had finished eating and sat himself next to Fushimi’s plate. He watched as Fushimi avoided the vegetables, and frowned. When Fushimi set his chopsticks down Yata picked up a carrot and stood to reach Fushimi’s face in an attempt to force feed his soulmate.

Fushimi scowled. “ _No._ ”

Yata yowled through gritted teeth and pushed the carrot to his lips. Fushimi was looking cross-eyed at Yata, trying to get away from the carrot.

Kusanagi sighed. “Just eat the vegetables, Fushimi. Yata’s going to be upset if you don’t.”

Fushimi relented and let Yata push the carrot into his mouth. Yata let out a satisfied purr and bent down to get another vegetable. Fushimi grimaced and stood up immediately. “That’s enough, Misaki. I’ll eat them later.”

Yata picked up a piece of broccoli and looked up at Fushimi, giving him another round of the cat version of puppy-dog eyes. Fushimi clicked his tongue and picked up the piece of broccoli, popping it into his mouth and grabbing his plate before Yata could take any more. Yata whined, but didn’t try to take the plate back. Getting Fushimi to eat two vegetables was already a miracle in itself.

Fushimi put everything away while Kusanagi played with Yata. He had picked up Yata and settled him on his lap. “Where are the toys we got the kittens?” He asked Fushimi.

                “Over in the living room somewhere. The other two stole a couple toys already.”

Kusanagi nodded at Fushimi’s back and held Yata up while he went and grabbed a ball from the bag. He set Yata and the ball down in the living room and played Keep Away with him, rolling the ball from side to side while Yata tried to pounce. Fushimi joined them after he finished washing the dishes, but made no move to play with them.

“Why don’t you try playing with him?” Kusanagi asked Fushimi.

“He already stole my glasses earlier. Who knows what he’ll do if _I_ play with him.” He said spitefully. Yata stopped pouncing on the ball and looked up at Fushimi, who was sitting at the side of the couch farthest from them. Kusanagi noticed Yata’s sudden change in mood and sighed.

“We’re never going to be able to turn Yata back at this rate.”

Fushimi looked at Kusanagi, using his eyes to demand an answer from the informant.

“Do you really not understand?” Kusanagi sighed even louder and turned to Yata. “Yata, do you love Fushimi?”

Yata looked to Kusanagi and mewled.

“See? Misaki loves you.”

“ _How are you sure he does_?”

“Yata won’t hop or stay on my shoulder like he does to you.” He said matter-of-factly.

Fushimi clicked his tongue. “Put him on your shoulder then.”

As if proving a point, Kusanagi put Yata on his shoulder, only to have him hop off and onto the couch so he could lick Fushimi’s hand.

Kusanagi smirked. “ _See_?”

Fushimi traced the spiral on Yata’s back with his finger. “What would he know about love?”

“Enough to know that it’s you he wants.”

Fushimi clicked his tongue again, but didn’t retort.

“You should tell him your feelings, you know.” Kusanagi said. “Before something bad happens again.”

Fushimi recalled the scene with the grey cat and tensed.

“See? You usually don’t react to things so openly.”

“You know, you used to not care when we got hurt, but you sounded like a kid panicking over ice cream – “

 “ _I get it._ ”

“Good.” Kusanagi smiled and leaned onto the couch. “Mind if I crash here?”

Fushimi scowled. “Why?”

“Let me take care of Yata for tonight.”

“ _Why?_ ” For some reason Fushimi wasn’t fond of the idea of having Yata being taken care of by another person.

“Nothing.” Kusanagi said in a sing-song voice. Yata was purring under Fushimi’s touch, and after hearing that Kusanagi was staying the night his ears perked up attentively.

“You live literally four doors away.” Fushimi said flatly.

“Then I’ll take Yata with me later.”

“No.”

Kusanagi smirked. “Why?”

Fushimi was honestly unsure as to why the thought displeased him so greatly. It wasn’t like he was _used_ to having Yata around. They were next-door neighbors ever since they were put in the same team, but they didn’t spend _that much_ time together outside of work.

He threw his defenses up, refusing to acknowledge the unknown feelings that were building up in his chest. “Because he’s more comfortable with me,” he said with a smirk plastered onto his face. “Just ask Misaki.”

Just then, Yata pulled away from Fushimi, trotted back to Kusanagi, and started playfully pawing at Kusanagi’s hair in an attempt to make the older human play with him a little more. Fushimi’s smirk disappeared almost instantly, replaced with a face somewhere between annoyed and shocked. Kusanagi laughed.

“That’s a new face.” He commented. Fushimi glared at him. “Oops, now it’s gone.” Fushimi just continued glaring at the two of them.

Kusanagi put Yata on the floor so he could play with the ball again. Yata mewled in joy as Kusanagi bounced the ball over Yata, and went to chase the ball down and paw it back to Kusanagi so he could do it all over again. Fushimi watched them once again, but this time he was feeling a little bit of pain in his chest.

Fushimi was mad. Just the _sight_ if Yata enjoying himself so much with another person irked him to no end. Kusanagi noticed Fushimi’s temper rising, but made no move to cool it while he played with Yata.

“So I can stay, right?” Kusanagi said lightly, pretending that he wasn’t aware of Fushimi’s change in mood.

“Whatever.” He replied through gritted teeth. “Do whatever you want.” Fushimi got up from the couch. “Spare blankets are in the closet. Get them when you wanna sleep.” He walked to his bedroom and closed the door. Yata had stopped playing with the ball when Fushimi stood up, and he was now staring at the door that divided him and Fushimi.

“It’s okay,” Kusanagi said to a whimpering Yata, “he’ll come get you sooner or later.”

A few hours later, it became apparent that Fushimi was either asleep or simply not planning on getting Yata from the living room. Kusanagi was laying down on the couch with the spare blanket draped over him, watching Yata. He had refused to join Kusanagi on the couch, and instead settled himself by Fushimi’s door. There was a light emanating from the crack on the bottom of the door, letting the two of them know that Fushimi was awake.

                Yata was hurt, but he couldn’t do much else besides scratch the door, which he knew would just make matters worse.

                Fushimi sighed as he stared at the ceiling. He was sprawled over his bed, but sleep _just wouldn’t come to him_. He didn’t know what time it was, nor did he know that Yata was still outside his door, patiently waiting for Fushimi. Thoughts were swimming around his head, until it finally settled on a single thought. _Did I hurt you, Misaki?_

Fushimi knew how sensitive Yata was, despite being the most hot-tempered person he’s ever known. He had a foul mouth, but he also had the heart of a child at times. Was he hurt? Was he okay? What is Yata feeling right this moment? For once Fushimi had no answers.

                A lot of what Kusanagi had said earlier invaded his thoughts. _Do you really not understand? Yata, do you love Fushimi?_ Yata had answered him in a heartbeat. Fushimi was more than certain that he was able to answer that question as well, but when it came down to it, he didn’t know the answer.

                A memory filled with cherry blossoms wormed its way into its mind. He tried to push it back, like he had always done when it tried to creep in, but the memory just wouldn’t let itself disappear this time around.

                He looked to the door. “Misaki…”

 

  **_____________________________**

 

_Three Months Ago…_

“Saru, look!” Yata said, pointing to the cherry blossom trees lining the river. They were standing on a bridge that overlooked a small park with a river cutting through the middle. It was April - barely half a month since they’ve formally met. Students were in class so it wasn’t as crowded as it could have been, and they had decided to ditch patrol duty in favor of crepes and park strolling. Well, it was Yata’s idea, and Fushimi couldn’t leave the idiot alone for numerous reasons.

Fushimi stood by Yata, one arm leaning against the bridge and the other holding an overly sweet strawberry shortcake crepe, and looked to where Yata was pointing. “They’re just trees.” He said with a bored expression on his face.

“They’re beautiful though, aren’t they?” Yata said, eyes affixed to the pink petals that were dancing their way to the river. Fushimi was looking at Yata now though; looking at how the contrast between his firey red hair, his dark blue uniform, and the pink petals all around them seemed to make his eyes pop out just a little more. Yata turned to Fushimi, a content smile plastered all over his face.

“What’s wrong?” Yata asked, leaning a little closer to his friend. Fushimi turned away from Yata and looked out at the river once again. While Yata looked at him like a curious cat, Fushimi was mentally beating himself up for thinking that Yata’s hands were probably warm – warmer than even his own parents’ touch. “Saru.” Yata dragged out the ‘u’, tapping Fushimi shoulder to try to get his attention back to him. “Are you okay?”

Finished with his mental check, Fushimi turned to look back at Yata. His face was inches from Yata’s, but he didn’t move away. “Yeah, I am.”

“Good.” Yata’s smile became warmer, if that was possible. Fushimi wanted nothing but to lean his head on Yata’s shoulder.

_What the hell?_

Yata stood a little closer to Fushimi and took a bite out of Fushimi’s crepe. Yata loved sweet things, which was _why_ Fushimi chose the strawberry shortcake, but he made sure Yata didn’t know that.

“When I find them,” Yata said dreamily, looking back out at the view of the cherry blossoms, “my soulmate, I mean. When I find them, I’ll make sure to treasure them.”

“What do you mean?”

“What do you mean _what do I mean_?” Yata asked. “Are you stupid?”

Fushimi clicked his tongue, but waited for Yata go on with his soulmate speech.

“I’d hold their hand all the time, maybe.” Yata said wistfully, watching a petal float towards the bridge and bend towards the river right before it could get itself stuck on the bridge. “I’d always be with them and let them know that they’re loved.”

“Gross.”

“Don’t say that! Wouldn’t you want to hold them all the time? I mean, we’d probably be really busy with this Strain stuff for a while but wouldn’t it be nice to come home and be able to eat dinner and cuddle and stuff?”

“ _Gross_.”

“Stop that!” Yata slapped Fushimi’s shoulder. “It’s embarrassing enough that you can kick my ass at basically everything, so at least let me dream a little!”

Fushimi smirked. “I can’t help it if you’re an idiot.”

Yata turned his back to Fushimi, folding his arms against his chest and letting out a loud _harrumph._ “At least I’d be a _caring_ and _loving_ idiot, unlike you.” A smile played at Yata’s lips, though Fushimi never saw. “I hope we’d still be friends after finding our soulmates.”

“Misaki.” Yata dropped his arms to his side, ready to turn to look at Fushimi, but suddenly Fushimi’s pinkies wrapped around his own and Yata couldn’t make the turn. Fushimi had his crepe trapped between his lips.

“I never knew _you_ were a sap.”

Fushimi let go to recover his crepe. “Shut up.”

Yata laughed. “Don’t leave me behind, okay?”

“Mmm.”

Fushimi sighed and ate the rest of his crepe. Yata had long finished his, and was just waiting for Fushimi to finish when they found the bridge and decided to rest there. He folded the wrapper and stuffed it in his pocket, and was about to call out to Yata when a big _bang!_ resounded in the crisp morning air.

“Wha…?” Yata said, looking around the area.

“Up!” Fushimi yelled, pushing Yata away from where they were standing.

Something landed behind them.

Fushimi sighed. “Well, so much for an easy day.”

 

**_____________________________**

 

“Yata, you’re going to catch a cold if you don’t come here.” Kusanagi called out to Yata, knowing all too well that the words never found its way to his ears. Yata was still staring at the door, waiting, _waiting_ for his soulmate to find his way to him. He went to sit on the other side of the door, hoping that Fushimi would notice him through the crack on the bottom of the door. It wasn’t really _that_ late, but Yata wanted nothing more than to see if Fushimi was alright. He heard footsteps on the other side of the door, and saw Fushimi’s shadow block some of the light that streamed out from the crack. He stood there in front of the door for a seemingly long amount of time, making Yata tense with anticipation.

When Fushimi hadn’t moved for a solid five minutes, Yata tried to stick a paw through the crack of the door. He couldn’t get it to fit, so he stepped back and pawed at the door, mewing ever-so-softly to try to get Fushimi’s attention.

The shadow moved away from the door and suddenly Yata was face-to-face with a really bright light. Something moved to obscure the light, and when Yata’s vision settled he was suddenly facing Fushimi.

 _He looks lonely._ Yata went to nuzzle the hand that Fushimi held out for Yata. Something in the way Fushimi handled him made Yata think that Fushimi was really deep in thought, which was new for him. Fushimi pulled Yata into the room and left Kusanagi in the living room. Kusanagi smiled, having watched the whole thing from the couch.

“Let’s just hope Fushimi figured it out.” He murmured, fighting a yawn and turning towards the back of the couch. “Goodnight, you four.”

On the other side of the door, the lights were finally clicked off. Fushimi had put Yata on his bed and was sitting at the edge, watching Yata as he sat by Fushimi and rested his head on his lap. Fushimi petted his head absentmindedly.

“Misaki, do you know why I never stopped calling you by your first name?” he asked the cat moments later. Yata looked up at him expectantly. “It’s so you wouldn’t forget the promise we made in April.” He murmured, refusing to look at Yata while he spoke. “Because your name reminds me of the cherry blossoms.”

Yata was confused. He was well aware of the promise he made, but it didn’t make sense as to why it’s affecting Fushimi so much right this moment.

“You said not to leave you behind,” he said, “but it’s more like _you_ left _me_ behind.”

Yata mewled, urging his partner on.

“This whole _love_ thing is so foreign to me, and yet here _you_ are, chasing after it like some _lovesick_ _idiot_. But despite everything I’ve put you through, you’re _still_ here, waiting for me. Who’s the one ahead now?”

Yata kept quiet, intent on hearing Fushimi out until the end. Fushimi tilted his head down to look at the furball that had now climbed onto his lap.

“Do you _really_ love me?” Fushimi murmured, resting his hand on Yata’s back. “The things you told me back then, about wanting to do things with your soulmate, I’ve been finding myself wanting to do them with you. Does that mean _I’m_ in love?”

Yata’s heart was about to burst. Was Fushimi trying to confide in Yata? Was he trying to tell him something? Did he just figure out his feelings? So he’s really in love! _He’s in love! With me!_

Fushimi chuckled. “No wonder the Captain always told me to try to talk out my problems.” _It really does help find answers._ He put his hands behind Yata’s front legs and picked him up so he could nuzzle Yata’s cheek.

“I guess _I’m_ the idiot for taking this long to figure things out. You were right about me being a sap, though, and I blame it on loving you. So take care of me, okay?”


	4. Happily Ever After

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last (and sorta rushed) chapter of Orange Days~  
> Take note this isn't beta read so there might be a few errors I didn't catch the first time I went through this.  
> And also, I changed something in Fushimi's flashback. I just changed the six months to three months in the last chapter after remembering that all this happened right after Yata's birthday, which is only three months away from April (I had a brain fart forgive me)

                “ _Saru_.”

                “Nn?”

                “Let me go.”

                “No.”

                “ _Damnit_ , Saru. Let. Me. _Go._ ”

                “No.”

                “For fuck’s sake, I’m glad you’re glad I’m human and all, but _it’s fucking cold in your room_ and I’m fucking _naked_.”

                “Let me warm you up, then.”

                “I swear to god, if you don’t let me go, I’m gonna – “

                “ _Fine_ , _fine_.”

                Fushimi had just finished the most emotional speech of his life, and it had felt pretty good to do so. It was an amazing experience, but with the kind of luck he has, it was short-lived. As soon as Fushimi blinked, there was a strange popping sound followed by a _thud_ , and it took Fushimi a while to realize that that _thud_ was actually a large lump of _Yata_ that had fallen on top of him. When the shock of being pushed back and suddenly losing hold of a tiny cat subsided, he opened his eyes to find a head of red hair resting on his shoulder. Fushimi’s arms were wrapped around the person’s neck, and he didn’t really know if it was because he was about to snap his neck in surprise, or because they were just wrapped around a cat a moment ago.

                Fushimi released his arms from around the redhead and Yata immediately scrambled to cover himself in Fushimi’s bedsheet. Fushimi clicked his tongue, turning away quickly to give Yata some privacy. “You have clothes by the door, idiot.”

                “ _Stupid monkey,_ Kusanagi’s outside.” Yata had practically growled. Fushimi imagined a pair of cat ears on Yata, and almost laughed at how cute it’d be if he still had his cat ears at least.

                Instead of laughing at his own thought, Fushimi clicked his tongue again, and then stood up to dig through his drawer in the other corner of the room. He fished for a pair of black boxers he doesn’t recall ever using and a random blue shirt that he had flung inside the drawer next to it. He tossed it over his back and towards Yata, listening to the shuffling of fabric and contemplating whether Yata would be okay if he turned around at any moment.

                “You can turn around now.” Yata muttered, interrupting Fushimi’s mental sermon for even _thinking_ to peep on Yata. Fushimi’s clothes were quite long on him, and when Fushimi noticed how much _smaller_ Yata looked in his clothes, he had trouble suppressing the urge to walk up and squeeze him. Yata was clutching his red collar with one hand, and the bedsheets with the other. When he noticed Fushimi looking it at the collar, he set it on the nightstand and occupied his newly-freed hand with the hem of Fushimi’s shirt.

                The mood in the room was extremely awkward, to say the least. Yata was having a mental breakdown at the edge of the bed, while Fushimi was debating whether or not going to sit with him was going to make things any better. Neither wanted to speak through the thick air. The faint sound of something scratching at the door managed to break the spell, but neither of them spoke as Fushimi went to open the door.

                Kusanagi was sitting up on the couch, speaking to what Fushimi thinks is Awashima on the PDA. Fushimi picked up the darker kitten (who had been watching the orange one paw at the door), allowing the orange kitten to wander into the room and straight to Yata. Yata in turn picked up the orange kitten and began petting it absentmindedly.

                “Guess I can’t really speak to you guys anymore, huh?” Yata wondered out loud. Fushimi stood by the door with the black kitten in his hands. He and the kitten were watching Kusanagi on the PDA, who was seemingly trying to calm down the person on the other line.

                “I’m safe, don’t worry.” He assured the other party. “I’m just at Fushimi’s.” The other person spoke for a while before Kusanagi laughed and ended the call with “I’ll be back soon, then. Bye.”

                He turned to Fushimi, whose observant eyes seemed to see right through him, and he sighed. “Awashima wants me home now that Yata’s back to normal.” He looked past Fushimi and noticed Yata’s familiar red hair. He smiled, glad to see that it didn’t take as long as he thought for him to return to normal. “So you finally figured it out.”

                Fushimi nodded slightly and looked back towards Yata, who was watching him intently. The orange kitten was vying for his attention, but sadly wasn’t getting any. “Kusanagi has to go.” Fushimi said to Yata, unsure as to why he wanted to tell him in the first place. He wasn’t sure of anything right now, actually. The air in the bedroom was terrible despite Yata being human again, and he couldn’t figure out what was plaguing Yata’s mind at a time like this.

                “Alright.” Yata said, and turned his attention back to petting the orange kitten. The kitten mewled in protest now that they had _too_ much attention, but Yata’s mind was too far away to hear their pleas.

                Fushimi put the black kitten down and lead Kusanagi to the door. When he opened the door to let him out, they were both surprised to find Awashima right outside with her hand in the air, looking as if she was about to knock on the door. She put her hand back to her side and cleared her throat. “I’m just here to get him.”

                “Yes ma’am.” Fushimi muttered before opening the door a little more and allowing Kusanagi out. Kusanagi gave a small wave towards Yata then walked out. “Goodnight.” Fushimi called out to their back, albeit very quietly.

                Awashima turned and looked at Fushimi, shocked. It was her first time ever hearing Fushimi say any sort of farewell to someone that _wasn’t_ a return farewell.

                She cleared her throat again. “Yes. Goodnight.” She said stiffly, making Kusanagi laugh. He turned and said his own farewell before pushing a half shocked, half annoyed Awashima towards their own dorm. As Fushimi closed the door, he could faintly hear Awashima going off about staying at another person’s dorm without her permission while Kusanagi apologized repeatedly, which seemed to anger her even more. Fushimi sighed a little, and as soon as the door clicked and automatically locked he turned back to his bedroom and practically sulked inside, nearly slamming the door shut.

He was exhausted; first Yata poofs back naked, then the kittens wake up at the dead of night, and now he wasn’t so sure if Kusanagi was thinking anything absurdly lewd due to Yata practically _shouting_ that he was naked just a few moments ago.

                He wanted nothing more than to sleep, but he was faced with a seemingly disoriented Yata and two _very_ awake kittens. He _could_ kick the three out and make them stay at Yata’s dorm for the rest of the night, but that wouldn’t have a considerably good outcome no matter _how_ he looked at it. Just as he was about to walk out and sleep on the couch, Yata called out to him.

                “Saru.” Yata murmured, letting the orange kitten drop out of his lap and join the black kitten, who was seated at Yata’s feet and watching the two of them. When the orange kitten landed on the floor, they immediately started pouncing on each other, completely ignoring their owners as they played around in the room. “Come here.” Yata whispered solemnly, his words barely reaching Fushimi.

                He did as he was told and stood in front of Yata, looking down at him. Yata wasn’t meeting him in the eyes; his focus was elsewhere and his hands gripped the bedsheets so tightly that his knuckles were turning white. Neither of them moved; the kittens had made their ways back to the living room and were fumbling around with the bell toy, its ringing a nice distraction from whatever was going on between the two of them. Ever-so-slowly, Yata unclenched his fists and wrapped them around Fushimi’s waist as gently as he could. He pulled Fushimi to him and buried his face in his stomach inhaling Fushimi’s scent. Fushimi was surprised, but let Yata do what he wanted to do. He didn’t understand what was going through Yata’s head, but leaving him alone probably wasn’t the smartest idea at the moment.

                The longer Yata hugged Fushimi, the more Fushimi wanted to wrap his arms around Yata, but he couldn’t bring himself to do so. Not until he figured out _why_ Yata was so upset. When Fushimi’s feet started feeling weird from staying in one spot for so long, he finally asked Yata, “What’s wrong?”

                Yata shook his head against Fushimi’s stomach, tightening his arms just a little. “I don’t know,” Yata replied, words muffled by Fushimi’s shirt. “I’m happy, but I’m also upset because I can’t talk to the kittens anymore. It’s only been a day, too, but I feel weird walking on two feet. And you buy way too much chicken, I swear I’m going to get a stomachache from all the chicken you fed me….”

                Fushimi patted his head. “It’s always weird after a Strain’s power has been lifted, and chicken isn’t unhealthy for you. It was all I knew to feed you.”

                “I know but…” Yata sighed. “Anyways, I never even got to figure out what to name them…”

                Fushimi sighed, but let Yata comfort himself. Going to sleep right that moment was most likely out of the question for the two of them, but he still had the day off tomorrow anyhow. “Let me get some coffee started.” He murmured, pulling away from Yata a little. “Want me to help you up?”

                Yata nodded and let go of Fushimi. He held his arms out and let Fushimi pull him up a standing position. Yata was surprised to see that he was adapting to being a human a lot faster than he thought it’d take, but he still felt weird seeing things from so high up again. It felt like he had been crawling for an entire day, and he was starting to feel funny from the sudden change in bodily functions. Fushimi let go of Yata’s left hand and tugged him to the kitchen with his right. He sat Yata down on one of the chairs and walked over to the coffee maker he had, but barely ever used.

                Fushimi got two small cups of coffee ready and sat next to Yata, bringing the two cups, a spoon, and some sweetener with him. He added a little more sweetener in Yata’s than he did with his own, hoping that a little sugar would be enough to cure him of his gloomy state. Yata tested the coffee, and after a satisfying smile he downed almost half of it in one go. Yata sighed and leaned a shoulder on Fushimi.

                “Can you tell me what’s _really_ wrong, now?” Fushimi asked him. Yata was twiddling his fingers as he spoke.

                “We-well, you saw me… na-naked.” He muttered, tilting his head down to make sure Fushimi never caught his blush. He was caught by surprise when he felt Fushimi’s body tremble, then he realized that Fushimi was actually trying not to laugh. “It’s not funny!” Yata nearly yelled, pulling away and glaring at Fushimi. The glare didn’t really work, because Yata’s cheeks were tinged a deep red and he looked more _embarrassed_ than mad.

                “I’m sorry.” Fushimi smiled a little, suppressing his laughter. “But that’s an absurd reason to be this upset.”

                “Why aren’t you fazed by this? I mean, seeing someone fucking _naked –_ “

                “Well, I’d see you naked anyways, since we’re going to live together.”

                Yata’s blush deepened, if that was even possible. “ _Damnit_ Saru, it’s times like these when I can’t really tell if you’re joking or not.”

                “I’m not.” He said softly, looking Yata right in the eyes as he spoke. “If we’re going to act like soulmates, it’s already a given that we’d see each other naked and all that.”

                Yata sighed again, this time in exasperation. He looked away from Fushimi’s unrelenting gaze. “ _Weird._ ”

                “It’s nice to see you back to normal again.” Yata could literally _sense_ Fushimi’s smirk. He snuck a glance at Fushimi, and when he realized that his smirk was more of a genuine smile more than anything, he mentally slapped himself for letting his mind drift south for a split second.

                “A-anyways.” Yata said, looking for something else to talk about. “How about we give the kittens names?”

                “Go ahead and name them, Misaki.”

                “No! I want both of us to name them. What should we name them?”

                “I don’t want to name them, though.” Fushimi yawned. Even with caffeine in his system, it was proving to be difficult to stay awake much longer.

                “We’ll each name one of them, how about that?”

                “Whatever you want, Misaki.” Fushimi murmured, setting his forehead on the table. Yata sighed, bending down to lean his head on Fushimi’s back.

                “Want to go to bed?” Yata asked.

                “The kittens, though.” Came Fushimi’s drowsy reply.

                “They’ll go to bed soon. They sleep a lot.”

                “How do you know?”

                “The black kitten told me so.”

                “Hm.” Fushimi sat up slowly, forcing Yata off, and rubbed his eyes. He wanted so badly to go to bed, but he didn’t want to leave Yata out alone with the kittens.

                “We could just put them in your room for the night.” Yata said, fighting a yawn himself. “I should head back – “

                “No.” Fushimi said, rejecting the idea of Yata leaving his side so soon. Even if Yata would be right next door, he was technically still on observation duty. He needed to see if there was an aftereffect. And what if something attacked him again? They were both accident prone, but Fushimi still handled such situations much better than Yata ever could. Yata frowned at Fushimi’s sudden rejection.

                “Why can’t I go back to my dorm? I’ll take the kittens if you want me to, ya know.”

                Fushimi put his hand on Yata’s shoulder, gripping it a little tightly. “Just don’t.” he murmured, looking towards the floor.

                Something clicked in Yata’s mind, and after seeing Fushimi’s lonely face a night ago it became more apparent to _him_ that leaving Fushimi alone was probably a bad idea.

                “Where will I sleep, then?” Yata asked Fushimi.

                “On the bed with me, of course.”

                Yata stood up abruptly and stared at Fushimi. The screech of the chair made the kittens jump, but they went back to playing right after. “You know we’ve only been all close and shit for about two days, right? And I was a cat like eighty or ninety percent of the time, right? How are you so comfortable with this? You didn’t even _want_ a soulmate in the first place.”

                Fushimi shrugged. Yata sighed; he was the one that wanted to jump into a romantic relationship in the first place, but he still couldn’t handle physical contact. Fushimi, on the other hand, didn’t mind the contact one bit, despite having been against the idea of soulmates for the longest time. “Fine, fine. But don’t do anything weird.” Yata said through gritted teeth, downing the rest of his coffee and turning away from Fushimi. He was facing the living room now, where the kittens were running around.

                “I wouldn’t.” Fushimi yawned loudly. “I’m too tired to do anything right now.”

                “Right. We’ll just name the cats later…” Yata watched the two kittens pounce around in their bed. It seemed like they were playing tag, despite them being just inches away from one another. Yata smiled a little, remembering when he was just a _little_ larger than them and messing around as if he wasn’t ever planning on turning back into a human.

                “Should we just leave them out here?” Fushimi was fighting yet another yawn.

                “Just leave the door open a crack.” Yata replied. “I already talked to them about the litterbox and how they’re not supposed to come in here when they’re not invited in.”

                “Such _obedient_ kittens.” Fushimi drawled.

                “Well, I don’t _know_ if they’ll actually do what I say, but you never know.” Yata shrugged. After watching Fushimi’s eyes droop just a little lower, Yata gave in and pulled him by the hands, slowly leading him to his bed. They both needed sleep, but Fushimi looked like he was about to drop dead any moment.

                When he finally made Fushimi lay down under the covers, he removed his glasses before Fushimi could roll over and potentially break them, like he’s done more times in the past than he’ll ever admit to. Yata laughed at how bent Fushimi was on sleeping; he still had some energy left but could probably fall asleep fairly quickly too. Caffeine usually meant nothing to either of them if it was nighttime, so even _if_ they both had a little coffee, it wouldn’t keep them awake for very long.

                After Fushimi rolled his way over to one side of the bed, Yata laid down on the other side with his back to Fushimi. Yata secretly wanted to roll over and sling an arm over his sleepy soulmate, but Fushimi already beat him to it by slinging his own arm over Yata’s waist. Yata blushed, hiding his face in the pillow. Fushimi’s breath tickled Yata, but he’d never tell him that.

                “Goodnight.” Yata murmured, hoping Fushimi was awake enough to hear.

                “…’Night.”

  **_____________________________**               

 

                 It was already well past their usual breakfast time when Fushimi woke up. He wasn’t sure if they slept at all, but the two kittens were already up and running about again, no doubt starving after having not eaten in so long. Fushimi tried to go around Yata slowly so as to not wake him, but Yata wasn’t as deep of a sleeper as anyone would think he was; he woke up with a start as soon as Fushimi had Yata right under him.

                “Wha – “ Yata’s eyes widened.

                “I’m just trying to get around you.” Fushimi said immediately, hoping that Yata wasn’t getting the wrong idea. Yata sighed and turned to his side, grabbing Fushimi’s pillow and sandwiching his face between that and his own pillow.

                “Go feed the kittens while you’re at it.” Yata murmured before attempting to drift back to sleep.

                Fushimi made it the rest of the way around Yata and stood up to do what Yata told him to do. He went to the kitchen and scooped a cup of cat food into each of the two bowls, and as soon as he set them on the floor the two kittens immediately darted over and started digging in. Fushimi suddenly felt bad for the two and patted their heads, muttering a quick ‘sorry for not feeding you sooner’ before going to the bathroom to do his business. When he finished brushing his teeth, he went back to his bedroom and found Yata already sitting up and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

                “I thought you were going to sleep more.” Fushimi said, walking over to the drawers to pull out some clothes to change into after he took a shower.

                “’dun want to anymore.” Yata yawned. “I need to go back to my dorm.”

                “We’ll get your stuff moved into this one soon enough.” Fushimi said. Yata looked at him, puzzled. “You forgot?”

                Yata nodded. Fushimi sighed, thinking of an easy way to explain the situation.

                “What happens when a member of Scepter 4 finds their soulmate?”

                “They live with them.”

                “Exactly.”

                “But we’re right next to each other already, though.”

                Fushimi shrugged. “Captain’s orders. Now hurry get your stuff from your dorm into mine. I have a report to write and you need to schedule an appointment with the vet.” Yata groaned in protest.

                “Too lazy…”

                Fushimi clicked his tongue. “Then do it when you’re not lazy. Go get some more rest. We probably won’t get called back to work until after the weekend.”

                “That’s four days!”

                “I know, so go rest. I need to do reports. If the vet asks, the kittens are about three months old.”

                Yata sighed. “Yeah yeah. But your reports… Do them in bed.”

                “… huh?”

                Yata’s cheeks were turning a dark shade of red. “I-I mean, do your reports in your room so… you know…”

                Fushimi looked at him oddly. “Are you okay?”

                “I am! I just want to… uhm…. Lay down with you, that’s all.” Yata finished his sentence in a whisper.

                Fushimi suppressed a smile. “Let me take a shower and get the laptop, _then_ I’ll think about letting you nap next to me.”

                Yata frowned while watching Fushimi walk into the bathroom to take a shower. _Why was he smiling?_

                It didn’t take very long for Fushimi to finish showering, and when he left the bathroom Yata couldn’t help but notice how much nicer his hair looked when it wasn’t styled the usual way.

                “You should wear your hair down like that more often.” Yata said, looking to the floor. He wasn’t used to giving _anyone_ compliments outside of battle. “It looks better on you.”

                Fushimi blinked; he never considered wearing his hair down ever since he dropped out of high school. Yata didn’t expect Fushimi to actually say _yes_ to what he just said, but hoped that the silence meant that Fushimi was at least considering wearing it down at least _sometimes_.

                Fushimi dried his hair off with a blowdryer and put it back to the way he always wore it before grabbing his laptop and taking a seat on the bed. Yata still hadn’t left the bed, but he moved a little to give Fushimi some room. Yata suspected that the report wouldn’t take too long to finish, but he figured he’d use the time to schedule a visit to the vet anyhow.

                “Saru, let me borrow your PDA.”

                “Why?”

                “Because I don’t know where mine is and I want to get the vet call over with so I can sleep.”

                Fushimi put the laptop on the bed and got up to get Yata’s PDA from the other side of the dorm. He also picked up whatever clothes and other small articles were lying there, so that Yata wouldn’t need to walk very far to get them if he needed them. Yata’s belongings were dumped at the farther corner of the bed, and Fushimi crawled back to his previous spot on the bed with Yata’s PDA.

                Fushimi handed the PDA to Yata and was rewarded with a bright smile and a “thank you”. Fushimi just nodded and went back to his laptop, making sure to do things as quickly and thoroughly as he could so he could rest a little more. Yata sat up and clicked his PDA on. It had been turned off when their team retrieved his belongings the day he was turned into a cat.

                “Saru, what’s the vet’s name?”

                “I don’t know. Just look at the map for the nearest one and schedule a checkup.”

                “The store didn’t recommend any?”

                “I’m _sure_ they’ll give your babies the best possible treatment once they find out that their patient’s owner is part of Scepter 4.”

                “You speak as if Scepter 4 is some sort of scary police force or something.”

                “Aren’t we, though?”

                Yata laughed. “I dunno about you, but I’m not _that_ scary. At least _I_ don’t have a hundred knives hidden everywhere.” Fushimi scowled and Yata laughed. “I’m not scared of you, though.”

                The conversation died and Yata used that opportunity to look up nearby vets with good reviews. When he finally picked one he felt was best for the kittens, he clicked on their _call_ icon and waited for someone to pick up, then hung up almost immediately when a voice came through the PDA.

                “Saru.”

                “Yes, Misaki?”

                “What if they ask me for their names?”

                Fushimi listened to the rustling in the living room. “Just name them something simple.”

                “Didn’t I tell you that I want _us_ to name them?”

                “Are you sure you weren’t thinking that when you were a cat?”

                Yata sighed. “I’m not even sure anymore.”

                Fushimi thought for a moment. “Name the orange one Mi, then.”

                “Why?

                “Why not, _Mi_ saki?”

                Yata glared. “You’re just making fun of my name!”

                “It’s a simple name though, right? The cat even looks and acts like you, too. It’s _perfect._ ” Fushimi smirked.

                Yata huffed. “Fine! I’m naming the black one Ko!”

                “Why?”

                Yata shrugged. “You’re using part of my name, so I’ll use part of yours. Besides, it means happiness, anyways.”

                “And you’re not bothered at all by Mi’s name meaning beautiful?”

                Yata blushed. “Well there’s no helping it! You named him!”

                Fushimi gave him an odd look, but didn’t press the subject. “Go call the vet now.”

                Yata grumbled an incoherent response, and hit the call button again on his PDA.

                “Hello! This is the Shizume Pet Society Veterinary Clinic! My name is Kato Yuka. How may I help you?” Yata stared at the PDA, speechless.

                “U-uh. Hi. Uhm.” Yata was at a loss for words.

                “Idiot. You’re _still_ afraid of girls? _Virgin._ ” Fushimi grumbled, taking the PDA from Yata. “Hi. My name is Fushimi Saruhiko. I’d like to schedule an appointment for new patients. We have two three month old kittens in need of a checkup. I’d like the checkup to be scheduled for tomorrow morning.”

                Yata just watched Fushimi as he casually set up the appointment, as if he’d already done it thousands of times before.

                “Yes, yes,” Yata saw Fushimi click his tongue. “Mi and Ko. Yes, kittens. Yes, yes.” Fushimi’s eyebrows were starting to knit together in irritation. “ _Yes,_ yes. Thank you. Bye.” He ended the call and threw the PDA at Yata. “Annoying.”

                Yata just laughed. “Thank you.”

                “Mm.” Fushimi went back to typing out the report. “You’re going to have to write your own report, so get started on that.”

                Yata groaned. “I don’t have a laptop.”

                “What’s the point of a modified PDA if you won’t use it?”

                “No no no. Don’t remind me.” Yata said dramatically, putting the PDA in his lap and throwing his hands up in the air. “The _Almighty_ Saru made the _idiot_ Misaki a modified PDA that’ll act as a laptop when I need it to.”

                “See? You know you can make it. Make the draft. I’ll fix it when I’m done.”

                Yata picked up a pillow and buried his face in it. “I don’t wanna.”

                “ _Misaki_.”

                “Fine!” Yata threw the pillow at Fushimi and picked up his PDA. “I was a cat for early twenty four hours. I had the ability to speak to cats, and I still retained my memories of being a cat when I was turned back into a human…” Yata thought out loud as he typed. Fushimi had been around Yata long enough to block out his ramblings, but having Yata _leaning_ on him while doing that distracted him and made it difficult to move his left arm.

                “Misaki, lean on the headboard, not me. I need to type too, idiot.”

                Misaki huffed. “Fine, fine.”

 

  **_____________________________**               

 

                “Misaki, hurry up or we’ll be late!” Fushimi called out to the poor redhead from half a block away. They had played a game of rock-paper-scissors to see who had to carry the cats, and Yata lost.

                “I’m coming, I’m coming!” Yata yelled back. “I wasn’t the one taking for-fucking-ever in the shower this morning.” He grumbled.

                It was the next day and they were on their way to the vet for a checkup. Yata was feeling much better now and was no longer queasy when he stood up for a long amount of time, and he even managed to force Fushimi to eat a bowl of vegetables by threatening to skip dinner last night if he hadn’t. The kittens would wake up to play for a couple hours then take another nap, which Yata learned would be their normal schedule until they became almost a year old.

                Fushimi had arrived at the vet clinic much sooner than Yata, and had already checked in at the counter by the time Yata made it through the doors. They were both wearing dark blue shirts with even darker colored jeans, which became a norm for the both of them since they joined Scepter 4. Yata still went out in lighter clothes, but he still wasn’t given permission to go back to his dorm even if it was _just_ to get some clothes.

                “Slow.” Fushimi muttered when Yata sat down next to him.

                Yata glared. “You’re not the one that has to carry their carrier now, are you?”

                “Nope.”

                “Exactly. Now stop complaining.”

                Fushimi fell silent, and they waited just a few more minutes before being called in. Yata wasn’t sure if Fushimi revealed that they were part of Scepter 4, but the near-VIP treatment felt nice. They were given cups of coffee and the kittens even got matching sweaters.

                “What, _I_ don’t get one?” Yata muttered. Fushimi chuckled.

                “Last I checked you’re human again, _Misaki_.”

                “It was a joke, damnit!”

                “ _Sure it was_.”

                Yata and Fushimi watched the vet go through the usual checkup routine, and seemed to be pretty satisfied with whatever results were on his clipboard when the examination was finished. He looked it over twice before turning to the kittens’ owners.

                “They’re very healthy.” The vet said with a smile. “Ko’s nice and strong, and I can tell that he cares a lot about Mi.”

                “Well yeah,” Yata said, “They’re like, _best friends_.”

                “It may not be that way, though.”

                “… hah?”

                “The way that Mi interacts with him shows us that she shares a deeper bond than that.”

                “….”

                Yata stared. The room was silent, but his mind was reeling.

                _She_ , the vet had said. _Mi… she…?_

                “Whoa whoa whoa _whoa_.” Yata said, standing up abruptly. “Mi’s a _girl_? I thought Mi was a boy!” He turned to Fushimi. “Was _that_ why you gave the kitten a girly name? Did you know the entire time!? Why didn’t you tell me? ”

                “Weren’t _you_ the one that could talk to cats? How did _you_ not figure it out?” Fushimi fired back. Yata blushed.

                “But we were all over each other when we played…”

                “Cats do that, Misaki. Now sit down so we can finish this.”

                But Yata didn’t sit down. Instead, he started pacing back and forth, muttering nonsense as he tried to wrap his mind around the simple fact that he mistook Mi for a boy. Fushimi and the vet agreed that he wasn’t going to listen for the rest of the report, so they continued, only stopping when Yata would suddenly yell out a profanity.

                Eventually the report was done, and Fushimi grabbed a copy before herding the kittens inside the carrier. Yata was still lost in wonderland, and Fushimi was getting fed up with how freaked out he was about Mi being a girl, so he left Yata pacing in the clinic room while he waited in the lobby.

                When Yata finally snapped out of it, he realized that Fushimi and everyone else was gone, and freaked out _again_.

                “Saru? Hello?” Yata burst out of the room, looking wildly from side to side in search of his soulmate. He couldn’t remember where the lobby was, and ended up jogging around random hallways and hoping that the next turn would bring him _somewhere_ recognizable.

                After who-knows-how-many turns, he suddenly bumped into the vet from earlier, who just smiled and showed him out. Yata finally made it out of the maze that was the vet clinic, only to find Fushimi watching the two kittens playing around in their new sweaters. Yata’s heart squeezed at the sight; even if Fushimi’s face seemed apathetic as usual, it was nice to see him watching over the two kittens anyways.

                Yata ran up to them, panting from all the running he had to do. “Saru,” he wheezed. “Why did you leave me?”

                “It didn’t look like you were going to stop anytime soon, so I came here to let the kittens play.” He said boredly, not even bothering to glance at the redhead. Yata glared.

                “So you left me there?”

                “Mmhm.”

                Yata sighed, but sat down next to Fushimi anyhow. Neither of them wanted to go back that very second, but the kittens were probably worn out from the checkup. After a few more minutes had passed by Fushimi stood up, and Yata put the kittens back in the carrier before Fushimi could leave without him _again_.

                As they walked back to the dorms, Fushimi listened to Yata rattle off about being able to go back on duty soon, and how excited he was to finally be able to ‘kick some ass’ again.

                Fushimi sighed. “Make sure you’re in physical shape for that, idiot.”

                “I know, I know!” he grumbled. The kittens were watching the outside world with wide eyes, making Yata smile. He wanted to take them to the park someday, but it was still a little too cold for that.

                For the rest of their walk home, they discussed how they were going to balance their work life with the cats, and came to a conclusion that they’d just leave a lot of food out in the mornings and hope that they don’t starve by the time that they got home.

                “Or we could make someone feed them for us.” Yata said absentmindedly. Fushimi scowled.

                “That’s _our_ dorm we’re talking about. I’m not letting anyone else in.”

                “Fine, fine!” Yata laughed. “Stingy much.”

                “Hmph.”

                They made it back to the dorm with a lot of the day left to spare. Yata was finally given permission by Fushimi to go pack his things, and Fushimi vaguely wondered if Munakata would agree to tearing down the wall that was between their dorms, giving them –and the cats, no doubt – more room. He made a mental note to mention it to their King once all the reports were settled and Yata was once again preoccupied with ‘fighting the bad guys’, as he would often put it.

                Yata didn’t have much to move; a small box of casual clothes, his other weaponry, a skateboard, and some small knick-knacks he had collected over the years was all he brought over. Their dorms were very spacious, and if they needed to they could just convert Yata’s dorm into a temporary storage room, which seemed like the best plan of action.

                When Yata had finally finished shoving things into empty drawers, he sighed. “Are you _really_ okay with this?” He asked Fushimi, who had ended up putting his pajamas on and lazing around on the couch the entire time.

                “It’s unavoidable.” He said rather apathetically. It ticked Yata off.

                “So you would rather _not_ have me move in, right?”

                “I’d rather we get a bigger place to stay.” He muttered, poking around on his PDA while watching Yata from the corner of his eyes. “If we can get Munakata in a good mood, we might be able to convince him to let the Special Ops team keep the old dorm building.”

                “You mean that small one with really big rooms in the back?”

                “Yeah.”

                “Man, I wish that’d happen.”

                Fushimi chuckled. “Probably not.”

                Yata sighed. “We can dream, at least.”

                Fushimi yawned. “Are you done yet? Let’s take a nap.”

                It was Yata’s turn to chuckle now. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll be there in a bit.”

                “Now.”

                “ _Wait._ ”

                “No.”

                “You’re such a _child_ , Saruhiko.”

                “You _love_ me anyways.” He smirked. Yata scowled.

                “Jeez, who knew you had _this_ side to you?” He grumbled. “The calm, apathetic Fushimi Saruhiko suddenly the clingy, talkative type.”

                “You rather I be cold and distant, then?”

                “No, no,” Yata said, looking up at the ceiling. “I think it’s nice. It’d be better if you were more open to the others, though.”

                “But I only want Misaki to see my friendly side.”

                “You? Friendly? _Please._ ” Yata drawled. “I’m just surprised you actually took this whole soulmate thing pretty well.”

                Fushimi made a _harrumph_ and turned away from Yata. “What, should I have let you sulk around on your 21 st birthday then?”

                Yata shook his head; he didn’t know what they were even talking about anymore. “All that matters is that you _did_ , and now that you’re stuck with me forever, let’s at least agree that only I get to see this clingy side of Saruhiko, okay?”

                “I’m not even being clingy right now.”

                “For _you_ , it’s pretty much being _very_ clingy if you ask me to take a nap with you.” Yata laughed. He walked over to Fushimi and sat at the edge of the bed, petting Fushimi’s hair absentmindedly.

                Fushimi let him pet his head for a while, and when he got tired of it he tossed his PDA to the floor and pulled Yata down by his arm, making him fall on top of Fushimi. He pulled him over to his side and held him in his arms while gently nuzzling Yata’s hair. “Let’s sleep now.” He murmured.

                Yata chuckled. “ _Yes, sir_.”

 

  **_____________________________**               

 

_9 Months Later…_

                It was the beginning of April, and the cherry blossoms were in full bloom again. Fushimi and Yata were once again ditching their duties in favor of crepes and cherry-blossom viewing, and Fushimi couldn’t help but feel nostalgic.

                Except this time, instead of just _thinking_ to hold his soulmate’s hand, he really _did_ do it this time. And it felt really nice to be able to. They both learned to ignore the looks of other people as Yata tugged on Fushimi’s arm enthusiastically, bringing them back to the bridge where Fushimi first started thinking of Yata a little differently.

                “It’s beautiful.” Yata breathed, looking out at the park like they did just a year ago. Fushimi didn’t care about how beautiful the park was though; he was preoccupied with memories of a year ago and how he had found himself lost in Yata’s eyes before. This time around, though, something seemed to _shine_ in his eyes, and Fushimi couldn’t help leaning in and kissing the corner of Yata’s left eye. Yata blushed.

                “What was that for?”

                “Nothing.” Fushimi murmured, leaning closer to his soulmate. “I have something for you, Misaki.”

                “What is it now?” Yata groaned. Fushimi loved playing tricks on Yata; sometimes Fushimi would give him a cat toy or a stuffed cat, which always ended up with the kittens back at the dorm.

                Fushimi spun Yata around so that they were facing each other. “Close your eyes.”

                Yata did as he was told, expecting a cat toy to magically appear on his hand again, but nearly jumped as he felt Fushimi’s arms wrap around his neck breifly. His heart was racing, thudding so loudly that Yata swore Fushimi could hear it. When Fushimi pulled away, he felt something light on his neck, and when Fushimi pulled away completely he spoke again.

                “There.” Fushimi said. “Now we match.”

                Yata opened his eyes then and felt for the item that was placed on his neck. He felt a chain and pulled at it, then realized that at a simple silver ring was dangling from the bottom of the chain. True to his words, Fushimi had one around his neck too; something Yata somehow always didn't notice until just now.

                “Saru…” he was at a loss for words.

                “You kept bugging me about showing you my love or whatever, so there.” He said, turning to lean his arms against the bridge. “Now stop complaining about me not taking you seriously.”

                Tears pricked Yata’s eyes. He wasn’t used to Fushimi ever displaying any sort of affection aside from the usual cuddling he demanded when he was tired. They never even _kissed_ in the past nine months, because Fushimi would always ruin the mood with taunting words.

                Yata hugged Fushimi from the side. “Thank you.” He said into the fabric. “Thank you, thank you…” He couldn’t stop the tears then, and Fushimi turned so he could hold him, letting him cry on his shoulder.

                When Yata’s crying had turned into hiccups, he pulled away slightly and bent down so that they were eye-to-eye.

                “Misaki,” Fushimi murmured, his face just inches away. His minty breath tickled Yata’s face. “I _love_ you, okay?”

                Yata only nodded before throwing his arms around Fushimi’s neck and kissing him. The kiss took Fushimi by surprise, but soon enough he melted into the kiss and pulled Yata closer, almost desperate to try to convey his feelings to the boy he was stuck with for life.

                Yata’s lips twisted into a smile, and he sighed as he pushed Fushimi against the bridge’s railings. Neither dared to take it any farther, and as soon as Yata had to pull away for air Fushimi pulled Yata in closer, forcing him to lean his head on his shoulder. They stayed like that, watching the cherry blossom petals dance all around them. The mood was light and happy, but the sound of their Vice Captain clearing her throat from the bottom of the bridge pretty much ruined it. Fushimi clicked his tongue, holding Yata in place as he started blushing like mad and panicking.

                “Are you two done yet?” Kamamoto asked them. He had taken the title of ‘big brother’ for the two of them, but still didn’t care too much about what they did when they were in the dorms. _As long as you two are happy and don’t fuck anything up_ were his brotherly words to them the first day they were back from their near-week-long break when Yata had been cat-ified. Ever since then, he took it upon himself to keep them safe while Awashima and Kusanagi played mother-and-father with them, making sure they didn’t overdo it when they were either on patrol or doing a job.

                “Yeah, yeah, we’re done.” Fushimi said, suppressing the urge to roll his eyes at the three people that were waiting on them at the bottom of the bridge. Yata was having a mental breakdown, but he was slowly learning to compose himself a little better while on the job.

                “Saru, let go.” He said, pushing Fushimi a little. He finally let go, and they both straightened their uniforms before walking back as casually as they could. For Fushimi, it was a piece of cake, but Yata was having trouble looking anyone in the eyes, especially Awashima.

                “You two…” she muttered, sighing. “Come on. There’s been a Strain sighting not too far from here. It’ll be a fun one for you two.”

                Yata’s eyes lit up almost immediately. “Will Saru be in the fight?”

                “Of course.” Kusanagi said. They had been training a team of people to handle Fushimi’s previous role in the team, and now that he was relieved of that, he lead the fight with their _Yatagarasu_ by his side.

                Yata whooped. “I can’t wait to kick some ass!”

                Fushimi clicked his tongue.

                _Here we go again._

                

  **_____________________________**               

 

_One Week Later…_

 

                Mi and Ko were finally a year old, and their owners even threw them a small birthday party to celebrate.

                "How do you even know when their birthday is?" Yata had asked the taller male a month before.

                "Just pick a day in April." He had replied. "The pet store wasn't even sure of their real birthdates."

                "14, then." Yata smiled. "In between our own."

                Fushimi smiled. "Sounds great."

                Now, the kittens were supposedly no longer kittens. They were getting too big to be called a kitten, but Yata still loved calling them that. It annoyed Mi a lot, complaining to Ko every now and then about being too big to be called that, but Ko didn't care; he secretly wanted to keep calling Mi a kitten since she acted like one all the time.

                "Ko, what do you think they'll feed us later?" Mi asked, big round eyes focused on the darker cat.

                "I don't know." Came his reply. "They always give us surprises though."

                "Ooh, I'm so excited!" Mi mewled, hopping a little. "I hope it's cake!"

                "But you've never had cake before."

                "True. But Saruhiko's cake was so pretty back then!"

                "We can't eat the same things they eat, _sweeheart_."

                "Oh, right..." Mi said dejectedly.

                Just then, their owners came home with a box that smelled absolutely delicious tucked under the shorter one's arm.

                The redhead placed the box on the floor, and the two cats immediately ran up to sniff it out. The clear plastic that served as the top of the box revealed that it didn't look as colorful as the one Yata brought home for Fushimi, but it still held the same shape as a cake. Rather than it being a single cake, it was two very small identical cakes, one for each of them.

                Yata opened the box and exclaimed "Happy birthday!" while Fushimi gave them a small smile and his own small greeting. They sat on the floor, watching the two kittens chow down on their cake, which was made of tuna; coincidentally, seafood was one of Mi's favorite foods, which was something their owners rarely ever fed them.

                "Mmm!" Mi mewled in delight. "This probably tastes a _lot_ better than Saruhiko's cake!"

                Ko watched Mi chew through a mouthful of the cat cake, and swatted her with his tail when he saw that she was making a mess.

                "Be careful. Don't eat too fast, too." He scolded her. She just looked at him with those bright eyes of hers, acknowledging what he had said but not taking it to heart, as usual.

                When they had finished eating, Fushimi brought out a small bag. Mi and Ko figured out early on that Fushimi was the one that always bought them toys, despite Yata being the one that took care of and played with them the most. Ever since the two went back on duty, Yata would always make sure to pay extra attention to them after work, much to Fushimi's dismay.

                "You should spend more time with me." Fushimi always complained, but would sit with Yata and play with them until Yata had to start dinner.

                For their birthday, Fushimi and Yata bought them a toy that resembled something furry clinging to a ball, and when they flipped a switch it seemed to come alive, twisting and rolling this way and that. Mi and Ko found the new toy very amusing, and chased it around the kitchen floor, bopping it with their paws and swiping at it when it rolled their way.

                Their owners had to work that day, so it was getting pretty late. The two of them had come home late because they had to pick up the toy and cake, but it was worth it to see their cats so happy. Mi got tired pretty quickly, and went to sit on her new bed, which they had bought when they couldn't fit in a single one any longer.

                Ko left the toy and joined his mate, sitting right outside the bed and leaning his head in, just barely touching Mi's stomach. There was a soft _click_ from the kitchen, followed by a loud _thunk_ as Yata put their new toy in a small bin filled with their other toys.

                They lay there, listening to their owner's bickering as Yata forced Fushimi to eat his vegetables, and the both of them were about to go to sleep when they felt a hand pet the both of them.

                Yata smiled down at them. "Take care of Mi, okay?" He murmured. Fushimi was already walking towards their room. "You guys are lucky," his voice turned wistful, "You're already gonna be parents soon..."

                They both mewled a goodnight and Yata smiled a little sadly before leaving them to sleep.

                "Hey, Ko?" Mi said, raising her head a little to watch Yata walk into their room. "Why does he look sad?"

                "Don't you remember?" Ko seemed to sigh. "They can't have children like we can."

                "But they have each other, shouldn't that be enough?"

                Ko sneezed. "Yes, that's true."

                Mi laid her head back down. "Misaki needs to cheer up," she mumbled. "They have each other's scent all over themselves anyways."

                "Mm."

                "I hope Misaki cheers up soon."

                "He will."

                "Saruhiko promised to make Misaki happy all the time."

                "He did."

                Mi suppressed a yawn. "They deserve to be happy."

                "Yes they do. Now go to rest, Mi."

                "Yes..."

                ...

                ...

                ...

                ...

                "Hey, Kou?"

                " _Yes_ , Mi?"

                "Do you think they've mated already?"

                "..." Ko buried his face into Mi's stomach, completely ignoring her question. " _Goodnight_ , Mi." 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm probably only going to keep this about three chapters long. I don't want Fushimi to have to have a cat for a soulmate for forever. ;n; (most doujinshis involving them 'changing' only last a day long, so three days is already a stretch haha)
> 
> To those wondering why I used Orion as Yata’s saber’s name: Japanese children call Orion the “tsuzumi boshi”, or “drum star”. Orion’s ‘sound’ is said to summon and gain the attention of protective deities. The drums are used in court music too. -w- It didn’t have a snazzy meaning like Pleiades (unite), but it still seemed to fit our precious little vanguard. In Greek myth though Orion was the one chasing [lustfully] after the Pleiades so you can take it two different ways I guess?
> 
> Accepting ideas for this fic + more prompts on my tumblr account (shaelemay)!


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